New Generation, New Enemies
by Faerie of the Light
Summary: It's ten years after Naraku was destroyed, everyone living together in the village, Miroku and Sango have children and Inuyasha and Kagome have a daughter,Sayaka. Everything's fine until a new enemy appears and Inuyasha is separated from his family.
1. Chapter 1

The night of the full moon, normally it would be a bright and peaceful summer evening. But this night, a strong youki blankets the sky, filling the land with darkness; you can taste the murderous intent in the air. The villagers were lucky enough to know about this earlier on and were able to move all the villagers to a safe place. Only six warriors remained to defend their homes: a clever fox-demon, a two-tailed demon cat, a mighty demon slayer, a (mostly) honorable monk, a strong priestess, and a most powerful hanyou. (For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, they're Shippo, Kirara, Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and Inuyasha ::duh::) It was Kagome who first sensed the danger but now everyone, even those without battle training knew what was coming.

"About two hundred youkai are coming", stated Kagome as she pointed to the north where they approached.

"Yea, this is going to be quite a workout," replied Inuyasha with a grin on his face. "I've been getting bored lately, a good go-around should feel good."

"Just try to control yourself Inuyasha," sighed Miroku.

"Yes, the last time you had a 'workout' half the village was destroyed," Sango added glaring.

"Hey it's better than getting killed isn't it?!"

"THERE WAS ONLY TEN OF 'EM YOU IDIOT! AND I NEARLY GOT BURIED IN ALL THE DEBRIS!" Shippo angrily shouted at the hanyou.

"Then stay out of my way you little runt!"

"What'd you say!"

"You heard me, chibi!"

"THAT'S IT!"

"WHAT YOU WANNA BE MY WARMUP?"

"OSUWARI!" and down goes Inuyasha.

"Will you two knock it off!"

"How come I'm the only one who gets punished?"

"Everyone get ready, they're coming", pointed out Miroku. All of them instantly stopped what they were doing and ready their weapons. The sky began to swirl and out of the eye came the youkai, most looked like snakes, but all were still terrifying. Miroku and Sango went on top of Kirara to fight the ones higher in the sky, while the rest of them stayed on the ground.

"Keh, it's about time," shouted Inuyasha, "get a taste of my Tessaiga." And he unleashed a powerful Kaze no Kizu at a group of them. Kagome shot arrow after arrow at youkai while Shippo did his part in confusing a lot of them with his tricks so that it's easier for Sango to hit them with her Hiraikotsu and Miroku with his sutras.

It continued this way for quite a while, well past the two hundred initially thought to be there.

"There's just no end to them," said Kagome exhausted.

_Something's definitely wrong_ thought Inuyasha _there's so many of them but it's not like they're even trying to hurt us. It's almost like they're looking for something._

Just as he was about to use the Kongosouha something zipped past him and landed on one of the youkai.

"YEAH! HOW DO YA LIKE THAT'CHA OVERSIZED LIZARD?!"

(Anime moment: everyone freezes with major sweat drops). What was on top was a small girl of ten, with a pink fighting outfit like what Inuyasha wears, golden eyes, her blue hair pulled into bonbons on her head right behind her adorable dog ears.

"Sayaka! Get down, what are you doing here?" shouted a concerned Kagome.

"I got tired of waiting so I came to help you mamma!"

"Why don't you ever listen? You're just in the way here!" yelled Inuyasha.

"You never listen to anyone either Papa!" whined Sayaka. The youkai she was on became impatient and began to fly into the sky with her still on it.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" she screamed.

"Damn it!" Inuyasha leaped into the air to try to get to her but as fast as he went the youkai was faster. "How come they won't attack her?" he wondered.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" Sango hurled her weapon at it and Sayaka fell until caught by Miroku. After the shock, she quickly recovered and was back to her energetic self.

"Thanks Sango-san, Miroku-san!" she cheerfully quirked while enjoying the ride on Kirara.

"Sayaka-san, you really should've stayed in the shelter with the rest of the people," exasperated Miroku.

"He's right you're not old enough to fight yet," added Sango.

"But I'm strong, I can help! And besides, I was BOOOOOOOOOORED!" Despite her protests though she was forced to stay with those two until the last of them were taken care of, which took well into the night. By the time they were done, the ground was littered with remains and stained with blood.

Inuyasha and Kagome stood together as Kirara landed to let everyone off. Sayaka bounded off to be met by the glaring eyes of her parents.

"Oh come on! I'm okay aren't I?!"

"Yes but you could've been killed! Honestly, I think I'll have to put up barriers just to keep you in soon!" scowled a disgruntled Kagome as she brushed her daughter off of all dirt.

"In any case, let's tell everyone it's safe to come out," interrupted Miroku sensing an argument. Everyone headed off toward the cave where everyone was, but Inuyasha stopped and turned to the sky as if he saw something. He continued to glare at the silent sky for a moment, as if waiting for the invisible enemy to appear.

"Inuyasha?" He was snapped out of his trance by Kagome who stayed behind with Sayaka in hand to wait, "Is something wrong?"

"N-no, it's nothing," he responded, and turned to leave. However, little did they know that the unseen enemy was keeping close watch on them during the whole battle.

"Hmmm…this is getting to be most tedious," stated the mysterious man, "no matter how many of these low level youkai I send, none of them can find the prize I seek. Where could those fools be hiding it?

"Well," he continued with a sudden grin on his face, "I guess I'll have to send my stronger ones to do the job, it's a shame to waste them but I will find the answer to eternal life…I will find the Shikon no Tama.

A/N: Okay this story takes place ten years after Naraku was defeated, so let me fill you in on the basic situation: Kohaku is dead, the Shikon no Tama disappeared after being used to purify Naraku, Miroku and Sango were wed and currently have 5 children who will be introduced in later chapters, Inuyasha and Kagome have the one child Sayaka but are not married, Kagome lives full time in the Sengoku Jidai but goes back to visit her family every once in a while, her grandpa passed away but her mom is alive and Sota is attending college to become a doctor. If there's anything I left out be sure to tell me and I'll tell you next time, in addition, after the next chapter I'll put in a current description of the characters.


	2. Chapter 2

The group continued along the dark path to the cave where the rest of the villagers were being kept, a barrier was erected outside of it by a combination of Kagome and Miroku's power and it looked as if everyone was uninjured when they arrived.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Miroku as he took down the barrier.

"All present and accounted for chichi-ue!" chimed in his oldest son Testu. (Side note: chichi-ue is the most formal term of the word father in Japanese. In this story I'll be keeping names as close to that language as possible)

"Well…except for Nee-chan," added Shizuku (Nee-chan is big sister, in Japanese younger children call older children big brother or big sister, even if they aren't related in any way. In this case Shizuku is referring to Sayaka)

"Keh! Tattle-tale," mumbled Sayaka, still being held firmly by her mother and a quick look from her made the young shinyou(quarter demon) become quiet and look at the ground.

"Anyway, it's safe to come back now everyone, Shippo and Kirara should've cleaned up the remains by now," said Sango. And everyone began to head back to their homes, eager to get what sleep they can for the rest of the night, only Sango and Miroku's children stayed to walk back with their parents.

"So how did it go? I mean I know we'd win but TWO HUNDRED YOUKAI! That must've been so exciting! Nee-chan did you get to fight at all? How many of them did you get?" rattled on Koi, the second born child.

"It was great," said Sayaka, her spirit rejuvenated. "I mean I didn't get to fight at all but I got to ride so high on top of Kirara and-

"And you nearly got carried off by a demon, ya little squirt," added Inuyasha beginning to feel irritated.

"Ohhh! Why're you always so mean to me Papa? And why won't you let me fight? I've taken on demons like that before!"

"Tell ya what: grow another foot and I'll let you join next time." Sayaka glared at him but refused to speak anymore. Kagome just sighed, knowing it was futile to try to stop them. Once they all returned to the village, everyone did a quick search to make sure no more of the youkai were left, and the put all the children down to go to sleep. Even Sayaka, who was always so stubborn to fall asleep, quickly succumbed to exhaustion and in less than a minute was out like a light.

"Inuyasha." Miroku indicated for Inuyasha to come out with him. Puzzled, the hanyou followed him outside.

"Have you noticed it yet?" asked Miroku

"Yeah, there have been a lot more attacks than usual lately. Someone must be stirring up trouble somewhere."

"It's not just that."

"What do you mean?"

Miroku looked up to the sky and continued, "Aside from the damage caused by our counterattacks, hardly anything's destroyed, plus, none of us ever get injured at all. Do you remember when that youkai had Sayaka on its back? It could've easily hurt or killed her, flying as fast as it was, but it just kept going."

"Yeah, I thought it was strange too," Inuyasha thought aloud. And then it hit him, "You think they're looking for something don't you?"

"Yes, today confirmed it. Someone's manipulating them, I could fee someone watching us but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't sense any other presence that I couldn't see," Miroku stated. "And judging by how you stopped like you did afterwards, you felt it too."

Inuyasha did. "So what're you suggesting?"

Miroku turned to look directly at him, "All I'm saying is that, by the way they keep coming, they haven't found what they were looking for. I believe it won't be low level opponents next time, we have to be even more vigilant than usual."

"Keh! I know that you didn't have to tell me," Inuyasha retorted and began to walk back to the hut.

_I figured he'd say something like that_, thought Miroku. _Though I guess he's right, I don't have to tell him something he already knows. I just hope that we'll all be ready for next time._ Each of them headed back to their own huts with their families in it. Miroku went into his and snuggled up to his wife who had already fallen asleep, and Inuyasha went into his (Side note: it's the hut Kaede used to live in but she had passed away). He found his daughter to already be asleep but Kagome had waited up for him.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's nothing." Kagome gave a concerned look, she could always tell when he was lying. "Miroku just wants us to be more careful."

"He thinks they're looking for something?" Sweat drop moment. "I think so too, and also," she stopped to look at Sayaka, sleeping peacefully. "I don't want anyone to get hurt because of us."

Inuyasha took her hand in his and had her look directly into his eyes, "You don't have to worry, everything will be fine." They leaned in closer as he whispered, "I promise…" They kissed and held each other tight, and for a moment everything else didn't matter, they had each other and the world was full of bliss.

A/N: Oh man how long I've been wanting to write a love sequence between the two of them but anyway on to business:

Sesshomarus-babygirl-2006: Thank you for the great review. I was originally going to give Sayaka silver hair like you suggested but that was when I first thought of the idea two years ago (yeah it took me a while to find the right plot for the story line). But I've never been that good at drawing and I couldn't picture what she'd look like in my head so I asked my friend for Christmas to draw me a picture of her and it came out perfect! She did have blue hair pulled into bonbons but it was a beautiful color with some silver mixed into it, she had golden eyes, dog ears like her father, and a pink outfit similar to his but in the picture she's a teenager so it has an altercation where there's a shoulder with just a netting on it like a web stocking which expressed her femininity.

That takes care of Sayaka's description, Inuyasha looks the same, Kagome now wears the priestess outfit and her hair is shorter, just above her shoulders with more bounce to it. Sango has the same hair style but with a handkerchief on top but otherwise she's the same, Miroku looks the same except that his ponytail in the back is a little longer and his face is a little more aged. Kirara is the same but Shippo is almost a teenager so he's grown a bit and looks cooler (refer to the drawing Souten does at the end of the episode where they fight, that's what he'll eventually look like). I'll describe the other children next chapter, so for now ARIGATO


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning came and the day progressed on as everyone continued like nothing happened the night before. Everyone had a normal day and as it became dusk the children played a game of hide and seek.

"Eight…nine…ten! Ready or not here I come!" shouted Sayaka. She glanced around, and when she discovered no one was in sight, she sniffed the air and was on the trail. She sneaked around the opposite side of the cottage, and easily found Koi. Tip-toeing over, she gets just behind her and…

"BOO! I FOUND YOU!"

Koi jumped into the air with a loud scream, " NEE-CHAAAAAAN! Why do you always scare me like that?"

"Hee hee, 'cause it's funny that's why," Sayaka replied with a big grin on her face. "Anyway, that's one down, time to find the rest!" After a little bit she found Testu and Shizuku.

"Can't believe I lost," angrily mumbled Tetsu.

"You're really good Nee-chan," shyly added Shizuku.

"Yeah! You're awesome Nee-chan, I mean being part youkai and all makes you all that more powerful. I wish I had a really cool nose and cool hair and ears and-

"Y-yeah, I-I get it. Thanks Koi," nervously interrupted Sayaka.

"Sayaka, everyone, it's time for dinner!" called Kagome. The children came in and the two families joined in together for their meal.

"Iditakimasu!"(Note: a phrase that is said before each meal. Closest translation is "I'm going to partake")

"Haha-ue," asked Tetsu.(Note: Haha-ue is the most formal term of the name "Mother") Sango looked up from her meal with one of her twin boys, Seiji, in her lap.

"What is it?"

"Is there any kind of powder of something that can fool youkai with sensitive noses?" He asked this question as softly as possible but Sayaka still was able to hear it.

"What? You gettin' tired o' me kickin' your butt?"

"I'm just trying to make the game fair," coldly retorted Testu, "It takes us hours to find each other but you always find us in a few minutes."

"I'm using the abilities I was born with. It's not my problem if you're a weakling," she sneaked in that last part with a sly look on her face.

Testu was losing his physique, "I CAN TAKE YOU ON ANYTIME SHINYOU!"

"HOW 'BOUT RIGHT NOW WEAKLING?" Both of them were staring daggers into each other. ::Anime moment- lighting in between their glaring eyes:: Just as they were about to tackle each other, Inuyasha grabbed both of them by the scruffs of their necks.

"Will the two of you shut up already?"

"HE STARTED IT!"

"SHE STARTED IT!"

"Testu." The boy instantly returned to himself at the sound of his father's voice.

"Yes Chichi-ue?"

"The basis of any great warrior is to keep calm and not give into suggestion as you just did," Miroku calmly explained as he cradled his other twin son, Eichi, in his arms.

"Yes Chichi-ue," Testu answered very nobly as Inuyasha placed the two children down, "I won't be swayed by temptation again."

Miroku smiled, apparently very proud of himself, when Sango retorted, "Maybe you should follow your own advise, eh, perverted monk?" Miroku looks down, defeated with a deep sigh and an anime sweat drop.

Eventually everyone settled down and all went to sleep in their own beds. However, just outside, an unexpected visitor kept close watch.

"Well, I guess now rather than later," he said with confidence. He raised his hand into the air and with a sharp snap of his fingers, a soothing music began to play. (Note: for the flute music, think of a combination between "the song of parting" from Inuyasha movie four and the flute music from Pokemon the movie two) It started off soft, just a melody in the wind, but it gradually increased until it sounded like it was coming from every direction. The strange part of it was, though, no one stirred from the sound. That is, until a certain note was sounded, it was then that every child opened their eyes to the music. But, they had no soul to them, it was as if they were just sleepwalking, dancing and singing to the sound of music, even the twins tried desperately, at the age of barely one, to follow. All of the children left their beds this way, except one. Sayaka was indeed aroused by the music, but she was fully conscious of her surroundings.

"Hm? What's that?" she asked herself silently. Without waking her parents, she went outside to investigate and found all of her friends heading towards the forest.

She ran up to Koi first, "Hey Koi-chan, what's going on?" she asked, but there was no response.

She tried Shizuku next, "Shizuku-chan, where are you going? It's the middle of the night." Still nothing.

"Tetsu-kun? Answer me! What's happening?"

Finally she got a response, but not one she would expect from Testu, "We go to be relieved. So we can play all the time without having to worry."

"What?" He continued along as if nothing had just happened, humming to the music. "Tetsu-kun? Tetsu-kun!" Curious, she also went along to see exactly what was happening. They all walked into the woods a short while, until everyone came to a sudden stop in one particular clearing. Sayaka looked around, but saw nothing. She didn't catch the scent of a youkai either, or feel any youki.

Then, the music stopped altogether, and a bone-chilling voice broke the sudden silence, "I see you have all come my children."

The voice was frightening and gave Sayaka a sense of terror she had never before experienced. But, that was nothing compared to what the beast looked like as it emerged from the shadows. It's long unruly black hair spiked out in all different directions, and appeared to be a jagged as its many rows of teeth. Its skin was gray, almost transparent in the moonlight, and its sharp claws could easily rip the roof off of a house, it was certainly tall enough to reach it.

She knew at once that this was not an ordinary youkai, it looked ten times scarier than anything she had seen before, but it had intelligence to it and spoke plainly and clearly.

"Children," it spoke again, "I must ask you one question before I take you to eternal peace."

Everyone answered, "Yes sir," in response, Sayaka, however, was too frightened to move.

"Very good, my children," it continued, "Now, you must tell me truthfully and fully the answer if you know it. If you don't, you will still be granted the same gift of everyone else."

It gave a maleficent smile and asked, "Do you know where the Shikon no Tama is being kept?"

This confused Sayaka immensely, _The Shikon no Tama? But that was destroyed years ago, before any of us were born. What's this creepy thing talking about?_

One young boy spoke up, "The Shikon no Tama was destroyed years ago in the battle against the evil hanyou Naraku. It's not being kept anywhere."

Sayaka looked at the boy and then at the monster, "I'm afraid that's not the answer I wanted. Don't worry though, it appears that you are not informed of its whereabouts. For being honest with me, I shall grant you a painless trip to bliss."

The monster stepped slowly towards them, as it was just an inch away from the group, its mouth opened wide.

_It's-it's going to…eat us! WH-why can't I move?_ It moved in closer. _No…no I don't want to DIE!_

"MAMMA, PAPA, EVERYONE WAKE UP!"

Inuyasha and Kagome jerked awake by the scream.

"WH-what is it?" asked Kagome alarmed

"I don't-

Inuyasha looked around and saw that Sayaka was missing, and a strong aura filled the air, along with the sound of children screaming and a bone-chilling roar.

A/N: Whew, man that took a while to type, but, man I just couldn't stop. Anyway, for the after chapter special, I'll give you the order of ages for the children starting with the oldest: Sayaka (10), Testu (10) (only younger by about 4 months), Koi (8), Shizuku (5), Seiji (1), and Eichi (1) (youngest by 5 minutes). I'll be sure to update soon! Please send me more reviews, ARIGATO


	4. Chapter 4

"MAMMA! PAPA! EVERYONE WAKE UP!"

Sayaka screamed at the top of her lungs, and in an instant all the children snapped out of their trance. They were confused for a moment but they took one look at that monster and the rest joined in with her and shrieked loud enough to wake the entire village.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Kagome were already out, shortly joined by Sango and Miroku after discovering that three of their children were gone.

"Damn it! I can't tell where it's coming from, the youki is too huge," cursed Inuyasha.

"Hey!" Shippo called down from the sky hoping to spy them from the air.

"Shippo-kun, did you find them," asked Kagome.

"They're all scattered in the woods over towards the Bone-Eater's Well, I couldn't see where the Youkai was though."

"Let's go!" called Miroku as he and Sango climbed on top of Kirara.

"Right!" Inuyasha dashed off with Kagome on his back, bow and arrows in hand.

"Kirara, please hurry!" begged Sango.

All of them, except for Shippo who was left to care for Seiji and Eichi, hurried off towards the forest while the rest of the villagers remained, lighting plenty of torches as a few of the children slowly wandered their way back.

They continued to search frantically, but found no one.

"Damn it all! Where the hell are they?!" Inuyasha sniffed the air hoping for just one scent to lead him on. Luckily, he picked up a small trace of Tetsu.

"Follow me, I got the scent of your brats!"

"Right!"

They followed him until they came to a clearing in the forest, the whole place reeked of the children's scent, and also…

"I sense a strong youki, it was here not too long ago."

"What about our children?" asked Sango.

"They were here too, I don't smell any blood though, so I don't think they're injured at all." Just then they heard a rustling as something was headed towards them out of the thicket. They all readied their weapons, prepared for the attack, and…

"Chichi-ue! Haha-ue!" It was Tetsu and his siblings.

"Oh thank goodness!" said a relieved Sango as she and Miroku got off of Kirara to hold each of them.

"Are you all alright?" asked Miroku.

"We're sniff we're okay," replied a tearful Koi.

"But we lost Nee-chan," added Shizuku.

"Chichi-ue, Sayaka ran off on her own somewhere after we all came to," stated Tetsu.

"What was here? What frightened all of you?" asked Miroku.

"It was a gigantic youkai, with long teeth and claws, like I've only heard about in stories," reported Tetsu.

"The monster was really scary and-and it had a big flute on its back, with long black hair and big red eyes and-and," Koi couldn't finish, she burst back into tears.

"Shizuku-chan?" Shizuku looked up out of the state she was in as Kagome asked, "Did you see where Nee-chan ran off to?"

"I-um, I'm not really sure but," she pointed in a direction, "I think she went that way." Everyone turned to where she pointed.

"That's the direction of the Bone-Eater's Well, she probably went back to the other time. C'mon Kagome, let's go," commented Inuyasha.

"Okay," she replied as she began to get on his back.

"W-wait!" The two of them turned around as Shizuku spoke up again.

"W-well, you see, um…," she started.

"What? Either spit it out or we're going!" impatiently yelled Inuyasha.

"Um, well, I was so scared I couldn't see that well but," she continued, "I think the monster ran after her."

The two looked in horror for another moment but Inuyasha quickly regained himself and took off with a gigantic leap.

"Sayaka," whispered Kagome. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry Kagome, I don't smell any blood. She's okay," assured Inuyasha. In his mind, he tried to make sense of what was going on.

_I don't understand, I can sense it so clearly now, so why didn't the youki wake me up when it first appeared? And if it was just after the children for food, why did it wait? I'm sure it had plenty of time to catch one of them, there's no way they could outrun something like that._

His trail of thought ended when he picked up on Sayaka's scent.

"I've got her trail, she's near!"

They made a final dash until the came to the Goshinboku (Sacred Tree), crouched underneath it with her knees drawn up to her chest and head in her arms was-

"SAYAKA!" The young shinyou looked up instantly, with tears in her eyes at the sound of her mother's voice.

"Mamma? Papa?" she asked, as if she was afraid this was just a dream.

Inuyasha rushed up to her and Kagome jumped off to embrace her child.

"Yes, yes it's us. Everything's okay now," she said tearfully as she held Sayaka tight.

Kagome released her and Inuyasha held her shoulders gently and asked, "Sayaka, are you hurt at all?"

She shook her head in response. "I-I'm sob I'm SORRY!" she hugged her father tightly. "You were right, I'm just a stupid kid who's too scared to even stay and help her friends. sniff I should've just gotten you, I can't do anything right."

Inuyasha hugged her back, "It's okay. This isn't your fault." He sighed deeply. "You're not a stupid kid, you did what I would've wanted you to do."

"B-but, everyone's-

"They're all fine, none of them even got hurt. If you stayed to help you would've just gotten killed."

She cried even harder in his arms, "But, if the youkai did eat them, I would've never forgiven myself."

Inuyasha couldn't find a response to that, he knows that if that happened to him, he would never have forgiven himself either. Before anything could be said, however, a deadly voice rang out from behind them.

"So…you ARE their child, eh?" All three of them spun around and took sight of the monster that had attacked before. Sayaka opened her eyes wide and stayed close to her father, who stood in front of her, sword drawn.

"No reason to get so hostile, I simply need to know the answer to one simple question," stated the youkai.

"We have no answers for the likes of you, you bastard," growled Inuyasha.

"Who are you? Why did you do this?" asked Kagome quickly knocking an arrow into her bow.

"I already told you," the youkai continued, "I just need to know one thing: Where is the Shikon no Tama. Surly you, the priestess of this village know."

"Are you dumb or just insane? The Shikon no Tama was destroyed ten years ago," said Inuyasha.

"I wasn't speaking to you."

Before anyone could see or even know what was happening, Inuyasha was struck through the stomach by the beast's extending fingers.

"AHHHHHHH" Inuyasha shouted in agony.

"Inuyasha! Why you!" Kagome fired an arrow at it, but it vanished and reappeared behind her.

"Kagome! Behind you!"

Before she could react, the monster used its hand to knock her flying into the nearest tree.

"MAMMA!"

"KAGOME! DAMN YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!" Inuyasha sent a full stream Kaze no Kizu straight towards it, but it disappeared once again. After the wind subsided, it reappeared again directly in front of him, its face barely an inch away from his.

"Come now, we aren't getting anywhere this way are we?" it asked. That's when it turned its attention back to Kagome who was recovering from the last attack. "I only need to know the correct location of the Shikon no Tama."

"It's like Inuyasha said," Kagome stated as she stood, "the Shikon no Tama disappeared ten years ago in the process of defeating Naraku."

The monster stood quiet for a minute, and then looked upward, having a blank look on its face, during this time Kagome worked her way over to Inuyasha and Sayaka.

"Both of you take this time to get to the well," said Inuyasha.

"You know I can't do that, you're injured," replied Kagome.

"Keh! You really think this lousy thing can beat me?"

"But-

"Look," continued Inuyasha. He looked down at Sayaka, who held his arm tight. "I don't know what this thing is, but I do know that for whatever reason, it targets kids. I'll distract it while you take Sayaka back home."

Kagome looked him straight in the eyes for a moment, and then finally said, "Okay, but be careful."

Inuyasha smiled confidently, "Right."

Sayaka tugged at his arm, "But Papa, you're bleeding, you should come too."

"There's no time to argue, just go!"

"I want you to come too! Why can't you come with us?"

"If I leave now, that thing will just go after our friends, I can't just run away."

"But you told me it was okay to run away," she protested.

"When there's nothing to lose from running then, yes, it's okay, but when you find that there's something more precious than you're life that you have to protect and you have the strength to save it, that's when you have to stand and fight," he continued.

"Papa, I don't understand what you're saying!" Sayaka complained.

"When this is over I'll explain it better, but for now it's time to go! Kagome take her now!"

"Okay." Kagome pried her daughter away from him just as the youkai was starting to come to.

"GO NOW!" Inuyasha yelled, and he charged at it.

"PAPA!" Sayaka yelled as they dashed through the forest with her in her mother's arms.

_Inuyasha, I promise I'll be back soon. I won't leave you to fight alone,_ she swore. They eventually made it to the well and, without stopping, jumped into it. The familiar blue aura surrounded them as the floated gently down to the approaching light of the twenty-first century.

Meanwhile, back with Inuyasha, he was so close to slashing the beast to pieces, but just like before, it evaded the attack with unreal speed.

"The presence, it disappeared," said the man from the shadows. "Flute Charmer!" He called out to the youkai through its head. "The jewel had disappeared, I have no further use for them."

_So about our agreement…_it thought to him.

"Yes, devour them all if you wish."

"Excellent!" He slashed at Inuyasha, at the back this time, causing serious injuries and even more blood to spill. "It seems I no longer have to hold back." Before Inuyasha could even get back on his feet, it attacked again.

Kagome climbed out of the well with Sayaka in her arms. "Sayaka, I have to go back. Go inside, and stay with Obaa-chan (Grandma) and Sota-Ji-san (Ji-san is usually used to describe older people but it's also the name for "uncle"). Okay? Do you understand?"

Sayaka went hysterical, "NO, DON'T YOU LEAVE ME TOO MAMMA PLEASE!"

"Don't worry," Kagome assured her, "you know that there's nothing that can stop your Mamma and Papa together." Sayaka just stood there holding on to her for a moment, and then gave a sad, defeated nod. "Okay, then you be a good girl, don't come back until I get you." With that she jumped back down the well.

_Please be okay_, begged Sayaka. But something was strange, she didn't see the flash of light that usually follows someone when they use the well.

She slowly approached the edge of the well and called, "Mamma?"

There was silence for a moment and then she heard, "I-I'm here."

"Didn't it work Mamma?"

"No," she answered simply.

"Try it again," Sayaka asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah, I'll try it again," Kagome said, more to assure herself than anyone else. And she climbed out and jumped again. There was still no light. Sayaka looked down and saw that her mother was crouched down, not moving, not speaking, nothing.

Sayaka climbed down herself and joined her, "Mamma, what's wrong?"

"I don't know," Kagome replied, her voice seemed almost dead, but her eyes remained wide open, like she was, and is, in shock.

"Well…why won't the well work? Did this ever happen before?"

"No, I was always told it would work because fate wanted us to keep going, that there was always a reason to return so I don't understand why…" she stopped. A terrible thought ran through her mind. _What if, we aren't needed back there anymore…because there's nothing there anymore to return to? Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, Shippo-kun…INUYASHA!_ She began to cry, tears rolling down her face.

"Mamma, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" asked Sayaka.

Kagome looked at her and held her tight, "No, I'm not hurt…but, I think Papa is." Sayaka was very confused, "That doesn't explain why it's not working, he's been hurt before-

"No Sayaka," she interrupted through her tears, "I think Papa's gone." It took Sayaka a minute to process this. _She thinks Papa's…dead?_

"But Mamma, Papa can't…I mean he couldn't lose to…no." But then it hit her, _Papa sent us ahead, because…he knew he couldn't win. He had something to lose, but he still protected us? No. no. NO!_ She began to sob uncontrollably, and the two of them just held each other for a long time, lost in their own despair.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Well here it is, chapter four. Sorry it took so long to actually get to the part that the summary describes but, I hope you like it. As for the after chapter special, I'm not really sure what to post so, I'm asking you: what do you want to know about the story, the characters, anything and if it's in my power to do so, I will answer your questions. See ya next time. ARIGATO!


	5. Chapter 5

_"Huh, where am I?" Sayaka asked. She took a look around and discovered that she was just in front of the Goshinboku, but the surroundings didn't look like that of her home. There were no buildings, no concrete; it just looked like a forest._

_"A forest?" she said to herself. There was no doubt in her mind that this was her home, but in the other time, her father's time. "Did I come home?" she asked herself. She was beginning to get excited when she looked down at the base of the tree and saw that her mother and father were there, her mother standing while her father was kneeling and embracing someone. The person he was hugging looked familiar to her, blue hair pulled into bonbons with…DOG EARS?!_

That's me! Back when I was small! _She thought. It was the last time she spoke to her father, the night when the monster appeared. But she quickly forgot about that and just stared at her father, loving to see the sight of him, the sound of his voice, she could practically smell him. _

_This scene was fleeting though, because in the next moment Sayaka saw nothing but blood. Blood everywhere, the ground, her clothes, every single thing. She stared in shock as her father was stabbed repeatedly over and over again._

_"PAPA!" she screamed. Sayaka wanted to run over to help him but for some reason, her legs wouldn't move. Try as she might, there was no way to pry them from the spot they were planted. She could only stand and watch as he was slowly being killed. _

_"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!" But the onslaught continued Sayaka looked away, hiding her head in hands, and wept openly. "I'm sorry Papa, I'm so sorry. I tried to help," she whispered to herself._

_"Did you really?" Sayaka's eyes snapped open as a familiar and unwelcoming voice spoke behind her. She didn't dare turn around but could feel its shadow bearing down on her, its blood red eyes burning into the back of her head._

_"Admit it," the voice continued, "you're nothing but a weak, pathetic little child. A complete coward, you only want to save your own life even if it costs the lives of the ones you love."_

_"No, I…I couldn't fight then, I would've only gotten in the way." _

_"Well what about now? Would you honestly give up your life to save someone important?" She wanted to answer "of course" but no sound would come out._

_"Or would you let them die, like me?" Sayaka looked up and saw the bloody corpse of her father standing in front of her._

_"Papa!" he slowly began to walk away. "No! Papa, don't go! Come with me! Let's go home, please! PAPA!"_

Sayaka sat bolted up in her bed, drenched in sweat and breathing heavy as if she'd just ran a mile.

She looked around and only calmed down when she was assured that is was morning and she was safely in her own room. "Just a dream," she said wiping her forehead, "damn it, nasty memories popping up all the time."

It's been five years since that terrible night when her father was killed by that youkai. Her grandmother and uncle allowed them both to move in, and she started attending school about two months later, after she was used to the customs of this time. Her grandmother eventually moved out but Sota still lives with them and recently got a job at the local hospital. So, Sayaka is fifteen now, and attends the same middle school that her mother did when she was her age, she lives a pretty normal life all things considering.

Sayaka put on her pink fighting outfit, grabbed her bag, put on her headband to cover her ears, and headed downstairs.

"Morning Mamma," she said as she entered the kitchen.

"Good morning," Kagome replied as she put the rest of breakfast on the table. "You're up early for a Sunday, where are you off to?"

"Me and Yukito have a sparring demonstration today for the new students," replied Sayaka as she sat down.

"I would say to take it easy on him," stated Sota looking up from his own meal, "but I guess it wouldn't do any good would it?"

"Nope," Sayaka cheerfully replied taking a bite of toast.

"I'm surprised the boy doesn't run away at the sight of you, he comes to me at least once a week for the injuries you give him."

"Yeah right, if anything he's the one who picks fights with me. Honestly, he's so stubborn, doesn't know when he's beatin'."

"If you don't start holding back you might really hurt him though," said Kagome.

"I tried to in the beginning, but he could always tell when I did and said that if I didn't give my all he'd never forgive me. So I just kept fighting for real."

She then looked up at the clock to see that it was time to go, "Sorry guys, if I'm late, Shishou (Teacher for martial arts) will give us a good lecture." So she quickly downed the last of her rice and dashed for the door. "ITIKIMASU!" (What is said when someone is leaving; English equivalent is "I'm off!")

"Have a good day!" Sota and Kagome shouted in unison.

Sayaka ran down the stairs of the temple and saw a boy of sixteen standing at the bottom of them. He wore fighting shoes, black pants with chains hanging off of them, a webbed, longs leave shirt (like what Shikamaru from the original series of Naruto used to wear), and short blond hair left down regularly.

"Hey!" the boy called, "You're late!"

"Sorry Yuki, girl's gotta eat," Sayaka cheerfully replied as she made the final jump down to right in front of him.

"If Shishou gets pissed it's your fault," Yukito said angrily.

"Whatever," she retorted. "You ready or what?"

"Okay, ready…GO!" And the two of them sprinted down the street, it seemed inhuman to run that fast and still be able to avoid all the other people out today. Even when they came to the busy section of town, they just leapt onto the rooftops and continued going at the same pace.

"Is that the best you've got Yuki?" asked Sayaka.

"Yeah right, you haven't seen nothin' yet Saya," called Yukito back as they jumped to yet another building, and continued on their way.

Meanwhile, back in the Sengoku Jidai, a certain hanyou sat against the Goshinboku, looking up into its branches and reminisced about one particular night:

_The monster slashed at Inuyasha's back and said with confidence, "It seems I no longer have to hold back." It charged again and was about to land another blow when it stopped dead in its tracks as the Hiraikotsu zoomed past it. _

_"Inuyasha!" Miroku, Sango, and Kirara all came in to help at the last minute. _

_"What a bother," grumbled the youkai, "but this will make for an even bigger meal." _

_"Just try it," said Miroku, his sutras ready. The beast charged with its super speed and was about to attack when Miroku cast his sutras on it._

_"You really think these pathetic things will have an affect-AHHHHH!" It screamed in agony as the energy from the sutras began to suck its power away. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?"_

_"Those are a new kind of spell, very difficult to make but they drain all the life from a youkai until it dies. They're impossible to remove and the affect lasts for years," explains Miroku._

_The creature continued to struggle to remove the sutras. Finally, it gives up and just before it dashed away, it said through gritted teeth, "You will rue the day you were ever born, I'll be sure of that." With that, it was gone._

_"Inuyasha, are you alright?" asked Miroku._

_"Don't worry about me," replied Inuyasha, "I have to go see Kagome and Sayaka." He got up and dashed to the well._

Please, be safe,_ Inuyasha begged. He reached the well, and jumped down it, but nothing happened. He tried it again, nothing. Again he jumped, nothing. He climbed out, and just stood there for a minute._ What's going on?_ He wondered. _Why won't it work? Does that mean…?_ He became afraid that his family had died, but when he sniffed the air, there was a fresh scent of the two of them, and no blood at all._

_"Well, at least they're okay," he said sadly, "that's good enough." Despite what he said, though, he looked up to the sky and couldn't help but feel so lonely._

In the present day, Inuyasha took out a small picture taken years ago when his daughter was still young. It showed Sayaka with a big smile, looking so proud as she just caught so many fish. He smiled gently as he stared at it, enjoying the memories.

Until Shippo came and bonked him on the head, "Wake up will ya!"

Inuyasha gave him a hit on the head himself, "What do you want?"

"Inuyasha." Miroku came with Sango.

"Thought you were off to another village getting rid of a youkai problem," said Inuyasha as he carefully put away the photo.

"We were but we got there too late," said Sango, "the whole place was destroyed."

"So, what's that got to do with me?" asked Inuyasha.

"There was one survivor," said Miroku, "a young boy, he described the youkai that attacked."

"And?" asked Inuyasha getting impatient. "Spit it out already."

"It was a youkai of great stature, with long black hair, jagged teeth, and blood red eyes."

"Wait a minute," started Inuyasha, realizing what they meant, "you don't mean…"

"Yes, it was the youkai that attacked the night the well stopped working, and there's one more thing," Sango started.

"The youkai let the boy live on purpose, to give us a message," stated Miroku, "it said 'the boundary of time will soon be cut, my beneficiary will obtain eternal life, and the naïve miko (priestess) and her daughter will soon die by my hands'."

They all fell silent, Inuyasha stood there in shock. _Kagome! Sayaka!_

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

A/N: Yeah I know this doesn't make much sense but it will come later chapters. One thing I need to add is that I couldn't find a good role for Kagome's mom to play in this story so I'm just going to leave it at that she's moved out and only comes to visit every once in a while. One more thing I'd like to add is that I'll now be trying to update a chapter every Sunday, so just keep checking every week.


	6. Chapter 6

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Sayaka and Yukito stood in the doorway of the dojo as their shishou shouted at them. Despite, their speed and how much they hurried they were still-

"FIFTEEN MINUTES LATE! WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A QUARTER OF AN HOUR YOU LITTLE INGRATES!"

"Sorry Shishou," Yukito said with a bow along with Sayaka, "apparently, a girl's gotta eat." Sayaka shot him a nasty glare and a quick jab to the stomach.

"We are truly sorry Shishou," Sayaka added, still angry at her partner, "we're ready to start the demonstration."

Shisho was still fuming when he said, "Well, what are you waitin' for? Get to the back room and don't come out until I call ya!"

"Yes sir," they said in unison and with one more bow they exited the room. They went into the back room and could hear on the other side, all the new students who just signed up. There wasn't many of them just three pairs, this type of fighting only accepted the ones with the most potential and who already had chosen a partner who was equally skilled. This kind of martial art is one that has never been famous, because it proved too difficult for most to master, this style was called:

"Fiery Dance of the Twin Dragons. This elite style of fighting isn't to be considered a hobby or even a passion," stated Shisho to the new students. "A hobby is something you do in your spare time to fight boredom and a passion is a feeling for a certain profession in order to live out the rest of your life.

"Well," he continued this time with a more stern tone to his voice, "this is neither one of those, it's not something you will ever be able to master if you only think about it once a day, and it's not something to be used to live out a simple life without worry. No, this requires skill, technique, will-power, preciseness, and, the most important of all…teamwork."

At that last statement, Sayaka and Yukito walked out, to the now puzzled students. "Yes, teamwork. It's called the Dance of the TWIN Dragons for a reason as our senior members will demonstrate for you now."

The two of them bowed to the crowd, then faced each other, bowed again, and took a fighting stance. "Ready? GO!"

Sayaka and Yukito both started at the exact same time, Yukito began with a sharp kick to the head which Sayaka blocked easily and sent an equally powerful punch right towards his torso which he also blocked. It continued this way for quite a few minutes, each coming up with even more clever strategies in an attempt to land a blow on the other, but both were just as good as the other and were able to block every attack even while striking at the same time. After about five minutes, Shishou blew the whistle signaling for them to stop and Yukito stopped another kick just short of Sayaka's face and she in returned lowered her left arm she was about to use for the defense.

"Now," said Shisho taking the stage once again, "what do you all see on these two that seems strange?"

The crowd stayed quiet for a minute until Shishou spoke up again, "That's another thing you must master if you wish to succeed: observation. Now I'll ask again: What's strange about this scene?"

Again no one spoke, but this time a single hand went into the air. "Yes Mazaki-san?"

The little girl spoke, "They've been fighting for quite a few minutes but neither of them are sweaty or out of breath at all, they don't seem tired in anyway."

"Correct! There may be hope after all," Shishou said. Mazaki didn't even try to look humble by the complement.

"Yes, these two are not tired at all despite having just fought for a good six and a half minutes, and even before this, running clear across town to still be a QUARTER OF AN HOUR LATE!" he shouted this last part.

"Shishou, I told you, it's Sayaka's faul-OW!" Yukito received a good punch in the face but Sayaka's upturned fist. "WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR? IT IS YOUR-OW!" Another punch to the face.

"IF BOTH OF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED I'D LIKE TO CONTINUE!"

"I'm finished Shishou," coldly stated Sayaka, "it's up to Yukito if you're to continue."

"Why you little…" Sayaka just gave a "keh" and turned away, arms crossed.

"As I was saying," Shisho continued, "another thing you must master is endurance, which coincides with the third skill, strength, and the fourth, stamina. Are there any questions before we proceed?"

Mazaki's partner raised her hand, "You said that they were going to demonstrate teamwork in fighting, but you just had them fight each other, so I don't understand what you're trying to show us Shishou."

"Well, I just wanted you all to compare the next demonstration to the previous. Yukito! Sayaka!"

"Yes, sir!" And the two of them headed out of the room through a new door.

"Here on this screen," he pointed to the television at the right corner of the room, "you will see your two sempai (sempai is an upperclassman or in this case just a student who's been studying longer) entering into the Obstacle Room where you will be training in weeks to come. Here they will demonstrate the power they have as a team compared to what they can do separately."

The two fighters stood in the room, and then took the traditional stance for this style. Their feet together, with their right arms pointed strait out in that direction and their left hands brought to their face with their fingers aligned with their noses. After a few seconds the whole room went dark but with the screen there was night vision so all the students could see what was happening. All at once, dozens of arrows shot at the two of them, and in a split second, both of them opened their eyes at the exact same time and they once again move with inhuman speed to avoid every single arrow. It was a beautiful display for those that could see it, they moved with such serenity and grace, it was like they were dancing. One obstacle came after the other and after another fifteen minutes, the demonstration was over and neither one of them had a single wound.

All the students just stared with awe as Shishou explained, "So that covers the teamwork part of this lesson, you must find a good partner, because there will be no time to ask each other what you're going to do next. You must be able to know what they're going to do so perfectly it's as if you're reading their minds. I'm not sure if all of you could see but these also showed that you must have perfect precision and unreal speed to boot."

When the partners came out Shishou said, "That's all for today, show up tomorrow at three o'clock sharp for lesson one. Dismissed!" Everyone gave a bow and left.

Outside the dojo, Sayaka started to go home when Yukito walked up to her and said, "Hey Saya, how 'bout we grab a bite to eat?"

"Thanks Yuki, but I think I'm just gonna go home," Sayaka replied apologetically.

"If you're worried about the tab, don't worry I'll take care of it today," Yukito quickly added.

"No it's not that, I'm just a little tired that's all." Sayaka turned to leave but Yukito grabbed her arm.

"You know that's a lie, what's wrong?"

Sayaka sighed, knowing it was impossible to try to fool him, "I just had nightmare last night and it's gotten me a little down."

"Sheesh, is that it?" Yukito asked surprised. "Since when do you get spooked by a nightmare?"

"Well, it was more like a memory," Sayaka explained. "About the night my father died."

"Oh," Yukito said softly. Sayaka tried to walk away again when Yukito pulled her arm in a different direction.

"H-hey where are you…?" Sayaka asked surprised.

"I can't stand seeing you like this we're getting some burgers," Yukito said, as if the subject was closed.

"But Yuki-

"Don't argue," Yukito said as he turned to look her in the eyes, "it's not like you to be so depressed, so spill it over some food at least."

Sayaka pondered for a second and then just smiled and nodded, "Okay, thanks Yuki."

"Sure." And they both walked off together hand in hand.

Sengoku Jidai:

The whole gang, including the kids, were gathered in Miroku and Sango's hut to discuss the matter at hand.

"How is it that that bastard's still alive?" asked Inuyasha.

"Yeah Miroku," added Shippo, "I thought those sutras would've killed it by now."

"The effects of the spell last up to five years on the strongest of youkai," Miroku explained, "it's possible that he would still be alive today, but, even if it did live this long, it should be on it's last leg. And according to the boy who survived the attack, it had no change from the last time we fought. Also, even though they're impossible to remove, there were no sutras located anywhere on its body."

All of them processed this information for a minute when something bit into Inuyasha's neck. He slapped at the spot and down floated a tiny flea into his hand.

"Myoga-Jiji (Jiji is the rudest term for describing an older person, in English, the closest translation is "old man") what're you doing here?" Inuyasha asked.

"Inuyasha-sama (-Sama is a step above –san in terms of politeness, it would translate into "lord" or "master" in English), I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and I believe I know of what youkai you're talking about."

"Really?" asked Shippo.

"Then spit it out already, just what is it?" Inuyasha asked impatiently.

Myoga sat on the floor arms crossed looking pensive as he began, "I've only ever heard of it once, it was said to have died years ago, The Flute Charmer."

"Flute Charmer?" asked Miroku.

"I think my father mentioned it once, the people from my clan killed it, but this happened years before I was even born," said Sango.

"Really Oka-san?" asked Koi.

"Cool," said Eichi.

"Yeah, tell us more Ji-san," added Seiji.

"Well," Myoga continued, "as you already know it's a most frightening youkai, the kind that all children envision when they think of monsters. Which matches perfectly to it as this one targets children. It plays a certain melody that only children can hear on the flute it carries on its back to lure all the young ones away from their homes to a secluded place where it then proceeds to drain the life force away from them to increase its strength and then eat their flesh to satisfy its nourishment."

"But how come it didn't work on me back then?" asked Shippo.

"I believe it only works on humans because demon ears can't pick up on the hypnotic spell, which would explain why Sayaka-sama was awoken by the sound but not put under its spell. But the strange thing about what you all told me is that this youkai went on a rampage and destroyed an entire village, correct?"

"Yes, there was no one left and every building was destroyed," stated Tetsu.

"What's strange about it Ji-san?" asked Shizuku.

"This youkai is strong enough to fight as you know, but it likes to avoid having to deal with a whole group of humans so as not to attract attention to itself because, as you demonstrated, people will hire slayers to hunt it down. Which is why I don't understand why it destroyed a whole village, or even why it targeted this village in the first place. This creature is not incompetent; it knows there are strong fighters here who would come after it."

"Back when it attacked here," said Inuyasha, "it kept asking for the Shikon no Tama, but after Kagome and Sayaka left it said it didn't have to hold back anymore. So what I want to know is who the bastard behind all this is."

"There's also one more thing we must find out," said Miroku, "it said that it will get to Kagome-sama and Sayaka-san. But there's no other way to get to them besides the well, so…how do they intend to do that?"

Just then, everyone sensed that something had arrived.

"It's him," simply stated Inuyasha and he charged outside. It was indeed the Flute Charmer Standing right outside of the hut, looking arrogant with its arms folded and a grin on its face.

"I've been waiting for you," it said.

"Yeah well the feeling's mutual," Inuyasha growled as he unsheathed Tessiaga.

"Always so hostile Inuyasha," it said calmly, "and I came all this way just to see you all."

"You won't be seein' anything in a minute!" And he charged at it again.

"Stop." The creature said and pointed at Inuyasha. Instantly his whole body froze.

_WH-what the hell?_ He asked himself. _I can't move._ It wasn't just Inuyasha though, everyone else around stopped as well.

"Just relax a minute and enjoy the show," the creature stated, "I'm going to take you to you're lover and child."

_WHAT?!_

With that the Flute Charmer raised one of his huge claws into the air and snapped his fingers, and everyone was surrounded by a blue swirling light as they traveled though time.

At the same time, the unknown beneficiary was also transported from where he was watching close by. "Very good my pet," he said, "very soon I will have my prize, as soon as we reach home."

Back in the present day, Kagome's tea cup got a crack in it. She stared at it and at the same time sensed a very strong force coming.

"A bad omen…Sayaka!" She ran outside to find her, only to be met by a blinding light which bathed the land.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

A/N: Well, that's it for this chapter, if it got a little boring at times, I deeply apologize but I have to explain things in the story and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to at least get some of it out. Thank you for all your great reviews. Anyways, I'll try to keep the story more upbeat for the rest of the time. See you next time. ARIGATO


	7. Chapter 7

**15 MINUTES BEFORE THE END OF CHAPTER 6…**

Sayaka and Yukito sat atop the school, each eating burgers as Sayaka finished her story.

"I see," said Yukito taking another bite, "no wonder you're so freaked out. Do you have these nightmares often?"

"Not really. I mean right after it happened, sure, I had them every night, but eventually they started to come less and less until now I only have 'em every once in a while…like last night."

Both of them were silent for a minute until Yukito asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what was your old man like?"

Sayaka thought for a minute, "Well, it's kinda hard to describe Papa. Most of the time he didn't act like a father, he was more like a big brother. He hung around while I played, teased me about stupid things I did, and we fought a lot about it afterwards, which is how I first learned to defend myself. Most people would think this was bad for a father but, I think I could relate more to him this way rather than if he was an old man who gave me lectures all the time.

"However," she continued, "whenever I did need a father he was always there. Like that night I got lost in the woods. It was raining and I soon became lost, I was really scared and wanted nothing more than to just go home. That's when Papa came and found me. I was expecting for him to yell and tell me how stupid I was like he usually did when I wondered off, but instead he just gave me a hug and carried me home, he even convinced Mamma not to scold me."

She sat quiet for a minute, Yukito was paying close attention the whole time, he didn't even take a bite of his food during her tale. He wasn't in awe really, just paying respect to her; it's very difficult to talk about a deceased loved one.

"So you see," she finally said looking up at him with a sort of sad smile, "whenever I needed a big brother he came to play and fight with me, but when I really needed a father…that's when Papa came."

She turned away for a minute but couldn't hide the fact that she was wiping away a tear. Yukito said nothing, but in one motion swung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to lean on him.

He put his head on hers and asked, "You really miss him, huh?"

Sayaka just stayed the way she was and gave a sad nod as she allowed a few silent tears to roll down her cheeks.

"Yuki?"

"Hm?" He looked down to her.

"Do you think he hates me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think Papa hates me?" she asked again. "If I had gone and woke them up for help in the first place, I would've already been safe and he wouldn't have had to fight to protect me. It's my fault he's dead, so," she said through many more tears, "do you think he hates me?"

Yukito was silent for a moment, trying to come up with the best possible way to respond to that.

"You're a dumbass you know that?"

Sayaka looked up surprised and angry, "Way to kick someone when they're down! What'd you say that for?"

"Because you ARE a dumbass if you think for one second that it was your fault."

Sayaka was taken aback, very confused. "But…it is my fault, if I-

"Okay will you just shut up for a minute?" She did and stared straight into his eyes. "First of all, if what you're telling me is right, then that…thing was going to attack anyway whether or not you went to get help. Second, from what I can gather about your dad, he's not the type to run when a monster goes on a rampage, he would've fought anyway and told you guys to run.

"And finally," he said as his voice lowered, "I don't think your dad hates you at all. He had a choice of whether or not to save you, and if he really had regrets about dying for you guys he wouldn't have done it in the first place. Your dad loves you and I bet he's really glad that you're alive and happy."

Sayaka already heard this speech before from her mother, but now coming from Yukito it felt like, it's really true.

"Do you really think that Yuki?" Their faces leaned closer together.

"Yeah." Their lips were an inch away from each other. "I do." Their eyes began to close, they could feel each other's breath and-

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

Both looked up and saw in the distance a blinding blue light. They held each other tight and braced for whatever was coming.

**5 MINUTES AFTER THE END OF CHAPTER 6…**

Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes; it took a minute to remember why he was passed out. He quickly remembered though and he came to his senses to look around. He found that he was alone, but the surroundings were different from before.

_This place…it couldn't be. Could it?_ He sniffed the air and found his way out of the alley he was in, to find that he was back in Kagome's time. He stared with disbelief at the bright lights, the tall buildings, and the huge signs.

_It's true. I've arrived at Kagome's time._

"Kagome!" Inuyasha remembered how he got there. "That bastard!" He dashed off towards the shrine. As he ran he noticed that nothing moved; the people, the iron carts, not even the lights. "Time has completely stopped." He didn't halt to ponder though; he just quickened his pace and continued on.

In the meantime Miroku, Sango, and Kirara awakened as well.

"Sango, are you alright?" Miroku asked.

"Yes," Sango answered. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure, everything looks so strange." The two of them looked around to find they were in what appeared to be a road. But it was black with white writing on it, and above was a strange lantern which contained three different colored lights.

Sango then noticed that across the road were a few girls whose outfits looked like what Kagome used to wear.

"Hoshi-sama (Note: for those of you who only watched the American version of this show; in the true Japanese version, Sango never called Miroku by his name she always called him Hoshi-sama, or to translate…Lord Monk), I think this is Kagome-chan's time. Look at those girls, they have the same outfit that she used to wear."

"You're probably right," replied Miroku, "but for now let's concentrate on finding the others and regrouping before we figure anything else out."

"Okay."

"Nee-chan? Nee-chan, are you okay?" Kagome was awoken by her younger brother Sota.

"Sota? What happened?" she asked as she stood up.

"I don't know, but nothing's moving, it's like everything is frozen."

Kagome walked to the top of the stairs leading up to the shrine and looked down onto the street. It was true, the people, the cars, everything was frozen. But not in ice…

"Time has halted," Kagome said, "everything's frozen in time." She stood for a moment trying to make sense of things. Then she abruptly turned around and sprinted back to the shrine.

"Hey! Nee-chan! Where're you…?" Sota stood there baffled and was about to go after her until she came back not a minute later with her old bow and a quiver full of arrows.

"Sota, I'm going to look for Sayaka. Wait here in case she comes back." With that said she dashed down the stairs before he could stop her.

"Wait! Nee-chan, I- oh man!" Sota said in frustration as he was left there scratching his head.

Sayaka and Yukito climbed down from the roof and stood in front of the school in utter confusion.

"What the hell is this?" asked Yukito

"I think time has stopped," commented Sayaka.

"O-kay, then explain WHY TIME HAS STOPPED!" Yukito said franticly.

"Hey, I don't know. Don't blame me!"

"I'm not blaming you, I just want to know what's going on."

"I'm trying to figure that out you stupid-

They both sensed the attack and evaded it at the last moment. What attacked them was what appeared to be some snake youkai of some sort. Actually it wasn't just some, it was a lot, like about fifty.

"What?" Sayaka asked in surprise. "But that's…that's impossible."

"Apparently it's not," Yukito responded.

"But, how…" Another one from behind them tried to bite into them.

"I don't think we have time to ask questions," Yukito said and he charged at them.

"Right," Sayaka replied and charged at the youkai as well.

"Shippo-nii-chan, look out!" Shippo was able to dodge the youkai's claws at the very last second thanks to Shizuku. When he was safely out of the way, Tetsu proceeded to kill it with his sword.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," said Koi as she cut another youkai with her Razor Disks, they look like two regular disks but are made of the same material that swords are made of and when thrown they can cut a tree in half, vertically.

"We're okay too," said Shizuku as she protected Seiji and Eichi with her shield (Note: Seiji and Eichi are too young to fight yet and Shizuku is too timid to actually kill anything so she just has a shield made of youkai bones like the Hiraikotsu).

"This is getting us nowhere," Shippo shouted. "Everyone get ready to run!" He pulled out some of his smoke bombs and threw them on the ground. A huge cloud appeared and did its job in confusing the youkai long enough for all of them to run into a nearby building to hide.

"Looks like they're gone," commented Tetsu as he carefully checked out the window.

"Nii-sama, where are we anyway?" asked Seiji.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "Everything looks so strange."

"We should just try to find Inuyasha and the others for now, then we'll be able to figure some things out," said Shippo.

"I think so too Nii-san," agreed Koi.

"Alright," Shippo said looking out the window, "everyone stick together and we should be- HEY!" Everyone had already left. "WAIT FOR ME TO FINISH TALKING AT LEAST!"

"Sayaka! Sayaka, where are you?" Kagome ran through the streets, franticly calling out for her daughter.

"I hope she isn't frozen as well," she pleaded worriedly. She stood in the spot for a moment, and then heard a sound from behind her. She turned around to be met by many youkai all poised to attack.

_What? Why didn't I sense them before?_ she thought. As the youkai charged, she quickly loaded her bow and shot arrow after arrow at them until there were none left.

"Very good Kagome-sama." Kagome spun around to the source of the voice, but in a flash, the man placed his hand on the back of her neck and she was met with blinding pain running from that spot to every inch of her body.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed in pain. She fell to the ground face first, unable to move. She struggled to stay conscious, but as the man walked towards her, she couldn't stay awake, and blacked out.

Sayaka and Yukito continued to fight the youkai, moving all over the town in a desperate attempt to try and lose them.

"There's no end to these damn things!" Yukito exclaimed as he clobbered another one on the head with a metal pole he found.

"What else can we do though?" Sayaka asked. "They follow us everywhere and I don't know about you but I…don't…want…to…DIE!" As she said those last five words she attacked five more youkai. That's when something very strange happened, more of the youkai came but these were rats, and they were a sickly violet color. The two of them stared at the odd rodents for just a moment but then proceeded to start killing them. Every time they destroyed one though, a strange black smoke would come out of their bodies and fill the air with a putrid smell.

"Ugh (cough) what is this crap?" asked Yukito covering his nose.

"I don't know but it smells awful (cough, cough)!" answered Sayaka also covering her face with her hand. There was no time to dawdle though because in the next instant, another youkai came at them trying to take a bite, and this time it was able to land a hit on Sayaka. She stammered back holding her arm where she was cut.

"Saya, you okay?" asked Yukito. However, he was negligent of the youkai coming up from behind him.

"Yuki, behind you!" Sayaka yelled. It was too late though, the youkai bit onto his leg and he let out a scream of agony. Once he collected himself, he was able to land a hard blow on the thing to have it let go.

"What's going on?" Sayaka asked.

"It must be the damn gas, it poisoned us to slow us down!" replied Yukito. He then saw that coming up from behind Sayaka was a very big youkai with long claws.

"SAYA! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" It was, however, once again too late. The youkai swatted Sayaka so hard she was thrown against the wall of the nearest building, and was left unconscious with a single trickle of blood running down her face from her head.

"SAYA!" Yukito yelled. But at the same time, another youkai came up on his side and bit onto his right arm. He was able to get it to let go but at the same time the thing swung its tail at him and slammed him against the same wall as Sayaka. Yukito couldn't feel his arm or his leg anymore, he had no weapons and his partner was out cold and probably seriously injured. Things were definitely not good for the two of them. The boy held Sayaka in his arms in a desperate effort to try and shield her from harm at least. The youkai all began to charge at them at the same time, he closed his eyes waiting for the blow, and then-

"DON'T MOVE KID!" Yukito heard a voice and looked up in time to hear-"KAZE NO KIZU!" and immediately after he saw a bright wind come zooming in front where the youkai were and once it subsided there was nothing left of them.

Yukito stared with awe at the incredible destructive power, and then turned his attention to their savior. It was a man wearing a red kimono, a giant sword in his hand, with long white hair, golden eyes, and…dog ears?

"You okay ki-" Inuyasha stopped his sentence short and looked at who the person was in Yukito's arms.

"Sayaka?" Inuyasha asked quietly as he knelt to get a better look.

"That's right," Yukito responded struggling to stay conscious. "You're Saya's old man aren't you?"

Inuyasha looked up at him in surprise. "Good, 'cause I think she needs a doctor…" and with that Yukito blacked out.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

A/N: Hey everyone! Man what a chapter, hope you liked it. I was going to make it longer but this looked like a good place to stop for now and I have to save some stuff for chapter eight. Also, as everyone knows, the end of the school year is near, and I am a senior in high school. So if I'm a little late on the next couple of chapters, please forgive me ::bows deeply:: I'll need to get ready for graduation and at the same time we're moving into a new house so I'm going to be really busy. I promise though, I will do my best to keep to the schedule! BANZAI! Well anyways, that's all for this week, see you next Sunday, please right many, many reviews. ARIGATO!


	8. Chapter 8

Miroku and Sango flew high in the sky as they searched for their children, Inuyasha, and Shippo. Suddenly, Miroku looked down to the northeast side of the city and was able to spot a bunch of figures running through the streets.

"Sango, down there!" he said pointing in that direction.

"Kirara, take us down there," Sango requested. Kirara consented and did as she was asked.

Tetsu sensed an approaching being from the sky and looked up in time to see his mother and father come landing right in front of them.

"Haha-ue! Chichi-ue!" Tetsu exclaimed. Everyone dashed over and went to greet them.

"Are you alright?" Miroku asked.

"We're fine Otou-san," piped up Koi. Miroku and Sango were let out a relieved breath.

"HEY WHAT ABOUT ME?" Shippo shouted at them.

"Oh Shippo. You're alright too," stated Sango. Shippo just let it drop, and looked at the ground; defeated.

"Tou-chan, where are we anyway?" asked Eichi.

"Did we get sucked into another world or something?" added Seiji.

"You could say that," Miroku stated looking around. "I believe we've been taken to the other side of the Bone Eater's Well…to Kagome-sama's time."

"Really Chichi-ue?" asked Tetsu. "This is five hundred years in the future?"

"But I don't understand Otou-san," said Shizuku, "I thought the well stopped working."

"It did," stated Sango. "That monster must've used some kind of youkai magic to bring us here."

"I've never heard of a spell that could transport someone through time before," commented Shippo.

"Neither have I," replied Miroku, "there's something very strange about our new enemy."

Just then, the ground from underneath them began to shake and crack. The street was splitting itself in half and out of it came many youkai rats. They had blood red eyes, were twice the size of normal rats, and were a vivid violet color.

Tetsu and the others readied their weapons to attack when Sango cried out, "Don't attack them. These rats release a deadly poison when killed."

"So what do we do?" asked Shippo.

"There's no choice for now, we'll have to run," said Miroku. Sango, and Koi hopped on top of Kirara while Shippo turned into his inflatable self to carry Shizuku, Seiji and Eichi, and Miroku was left to run on top the roofs of the tall buildings.

They all made it out and while in the sky again Sango made a discovery.

"Everyone," she cried out, "I see the Goshinboku over there!" She pointed to the north of the city and everyone turned their attention that way.

"Let's head over there," replied Miroku, "Kagome-sama and the others will probably be there." So with that they all headed there.

Meanwhile, back at the temple, Sota stood outside anxiously waiting for the return of his older sister and niece. He looked out from the door, keeping his eyes pealed for any sign of movement when he spotted a figure approaching in the distance. He quickly ran outside, hoping that it was them.

"Nee-chan?" he called out hopefully. He then noticed the figure was actually bounding toward him at an incredible speed, and before he new it, it landed right in front of him carrying two people.

"That you Sota?" Inuyasha asked. Sota stared in disbelief at the hanyou who he believed to be dead for five years.

"Inuyasha?" Sota asked. "Is that really you?"

"No I'm a talking puppet, of course it's me!"

Sota still couldn't believe it, but it was true. Standing in front of him, carrying Sayaka slung over one shoulder and Yukito tucked under the other arm was Inuyasha, the man whom he'd looked up to for years as his older brother.

"You just gonna stand there gawking, or are you gonna help me out with these two?" Inuyasha asked impatiently.

"Uh…right, of course!" Sota quickly ran and opened the door for him. Once inside Inuyasha carefully placed his daughter and Yukito on the couches.

Sota took a look at them and realized that they were both injured. "What happened out there?"

"Youkai attacked them," Inuyasha replied simply, "Luckily I got there in time."

"YOUKAI?" Sota asked urgently. "But…how? There aren't any youkai in this time."

"It's a long story, and right now these two need treatment."

So Sota bandaged them up the best he could for the time being, and while he did so, Inuyasha explained what happened from their discussion in the village to when he found the two of them in the street.

"Man," Sota said as he sat in his chair and stared at the ground, "this is all so unbelievable."

"It's true though," Inuyasha stated calmly. It was then that Sota noticed that Inuyasha's attention was focused on Sayaka, stroking her cheek and gently brushing her bangs out of her face.

"She's…gotten big," Inuyasha says quietly.

Sota smiles and gives a nod. "She's become quite strong too. You see that boy she's with?" Sota points to Yukito on the other couch. "She spars with him all the time and never loses. He comes to me at least once a week with injuries like he'd been in a gang fight."

"Make that twice a week." The two of them turn toward to voice to see that Yukito has woken up.

"Ah Yukito-kun, you're awake," Sota states. "How are you feeling?"

"Kinda weird, I'm all stiff," he replies as he sits up. "How's Saya?"

"Still hasn't woken up," Sota explains.

"Saya?" Inuyasha asks, sounding a little irritated.

"Oh right," Sota turns his attention to Inuyasha like he'd forgotten he was in the room, "Yukito-kun, this is Inuyasha, Sayaka's father."

"Right," Yukito said politely and with a bow of his head he introduced himself, "I'm Wakamatsu Yukito, nice to meet you." (Note: In Japan, people always use their last names first when addressing themselves)

"Yeah," Inuyasha says simply, still eyeing him like he might attack at any minute. He then notices Yukito doubled over, clutching his chest. "Hey kid, you okay?"

"It's…getting…hard…to breathe," Yukito managed to get out. Sota looks at him and then goes to Sayaka to inspect her.

"Her breathing doesn't sound to well either," he says.

"Is there any kind of medicine here?" Inuyasha asks.

"I don't think there's anything here to treat this kind of ailment, we have to get them both to the hospital so I can give them the right treatment. That is, if I can find out what's wrong with them in the first place."

"Kagome would probably know- Wait a minute!" Inuyasha finally came to realize that Kagome wasn't there. "Where is Kagome?"

"Huh? Oh right! Nee-chan went into the city over an hour ago to look for Sayaka!"

"What?" Inuyasha asked, beginning to panic. "She hasn't come back yet?"

"No," Sota states becoming increasingly worried.

"I have to go look for her," he started to say but then saw that Sayaka was moaning and breathing very heavily.

_Damn it!_ Inuyasha thinks, _I don't have time to take them anywhere, Kagome might be in danger!_ It was then that he sensed a presence approaching from the air. He ran outside, to be met by the rest of the group.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku called out, "Are you alright?"

"There's no time to worry about me, I need you guys to take Sayaka and the others here to the hospital."

"What's a hospital?" asked Shippo. He was ignored however, as Inuyasha and the others went inside to gather up Yukito and Sayaka. "You could answer me at least!" Shippo called agitated.

As they were brought outside, everyone all started to think of how to carry them.

"Tetsu, can you keep up with us if you run?" Sango asked.

"Yes," he replied with confidence.

"Also," Miroku added, "do you think you could carry Eichi on you're back at the same time?"

"I'll do my best Chichi-ue," Tetsu replied once again.

"Then I'll carry Seiji on mine, so Sayaka-san will ride on Kirara, and Yukito-san and Sota-san will ride on Shippo," Miroku stated once again. "Will you be able to handle this many people?"

"Sure, I can handle that easy!" Shippo replied with energy.

"Okay, I'm counting on you guys," Inuyasha said.

"What will you do Inuyasha?" asked Miroku.

"Keh! Isn't it obvious? I'm gonna go find Kagome!" And with that he leapt into the air and into the dark city.

Once at the hospital, Sota inspected Yukito in an empty room.

"Breathe as deep as possible," Sota asked him. Yukito did as he was told but with difficulty.

"This is incredible," stated Sota as he finishes his inspection, "whatever infected them not only closes off the esophagus, it also increases the amount of iron in the muscles making it more difficult to move and actually causes a delayed reaction when receiving information in the brain."

"Do you have anything here to treat them?" asked Miroku.

"I don't know, I've never even heard of a poison like this before."

"Wait," Sango interrupts, "Yukito-kun, did you attack a bunch of rats while in the city?"

Yukito couldn't speak anymore but was still able to nod his head. "So that's it." Sango pulls out a bottle of blue colored liquid from the shoulder blade. "Sota-kun do you have any water to mix this with?"

"Uh, right, sure," he answers and goes to the sink and pours a cup from the faucet. After he hands it to Sango, she puts a single, miniscule drop into the cup and instantly it turns the same color.

"Help him to drink half of this and then give the rest to Sayaka-chan," she commands. Sota takes the glass and brings it to Yukito's mouth which he drank, and then he went to Sayaka, held her up and was able to pour the rest of it down her throat. All of them waited a minute but then Yukito started coughing and spat up a little bit of a purplish kind of liquid. Almost immediately afterwards, Sayaka, though still unconscious, spat up the same substance.

"How do you feel? Any difference?" asked Sota.

"Y-yeah, I can breathe better at least," he replied wiping his mouth.

"The medicine I gave you will get what's in your lungs out and dissolve the rest in your body," explained Sango.

"Thanks for your help," said Sota standing with a relieved look on his face. "Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Higurashi Sota, Kagome's younger brother."

"Yeah, thanks a lot, I'm Wakamatsu Yukito."

After all the formalities, Miroku turned to Sango, "We should go look for Inuyasha and Kagome-sama."

"Right," Sango replied with a nod.

"Shippo you're coming with us," Miroku called.

" What?! Why do I have to go?" Shippo asked surprised.

"What are you talking about Shippo? You're not a kid anymore right, we need you to fight along side us again," he replied with an, almost creepy smile.

"Uh, uh, uh r-right, I gotta keep it together," he whispered the last part.

"Tetsu, you and the others stay here to protect Sayaka-san, Sota-san, and Yukito-san," ordered Miroku.

"Right," Tetsu replied.

"Let's go Kirara!" Sango said, and the four of them went out the window and into the dark, ominous sky.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha called. Unfortunately there was no reply. He continued to dash around the city, leaving no area unchecked and was constantly sniffing the air for a chance to catch any trace of her scent.

"Damn it!" he said to himself in frustration. _Kagome, please be safe!_ That's when he spotted a figure walking down one of the roads. He ran closer to see who it was, it was a woman who, by the looks of it, was injured so bad she had to use a long branch to keep her up.

_Wait a minute. That's-!_

KAGOME!!!! Inuyasha called from the top of his lungs as he dashed even faster towards her. Kagome appeared to have heard him because she turned around to see him.

"Inu…yasha?" she whispered. Inuyasha landed just in time to catch her as she fainted. She was a terrible sight, her whole body was full of cuts, clothes torn (though of course nothing above PG), and reeking of the stench of not only her blood but the blood of youkai.

"Kagome. Kagome!" Inuyasha called while trying to shake her awake. Eventually she slowly opened her eyes ever so slightly.

"Inuyasha?" She asked softly.

"Yeah, it's me Kagome," Inuyasha replied, smiling with relief that she was alive. "Just hold on, I'm gonna get you some help."

He picked her up in his arms and stood. Kagome chuckled a little and Inuyasha looked down onto her.

"These dreams are becoming too real."

Inuyasha was confused. "Huh? What are you talking about Kagome? This isn't a dream."

Kagome was slipping into unconsciousness, "why…did you…have to die?"

She was then out cold, and Inuyasha was left standing in the cold street, thinking about what he'd just heard.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

A/N: Well, here's the extremely late chapter eight. I apologize deeply that it's so late, but as I mentioned before, I was very busy with graduation and moving and all that kind of stuff. Plus, it didn't help that I was having a bit of a writer's block, I kept going from one storyline to another and finally a set on this one. Trust me, it's going to be good, and again, I AM MOST TERRIBLY SORRY. MOSHI WAKE ARIMASEN!!!!! I'll update again as soon as possible, please review. ARIGATO


	9. Chapter 9

Sayaka slowly opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings bit by bit, all the while feeling as if she'd been hit by a truck…thinking back she believes a truck would've been less painful.

"Saya?" She turned her head towards the voice, although she already knew who it was, only one person in the world ever called her 'Saya'.

"Yuki, oh man, where am I?" she asked sitting up while holding her head.

"The hospital, we kinda got off on the worse end of that fight," he replied sounding like his cheerful self.

"Crap," she responded. That's when she noticed that his right arm and leg were both bandaged up. "Yuki, you were bitten by those things, weren't you?" she asked, concerned.

Yukito looked down at his injuries as if he'd forgotten they were there, "Oh this, nothing to it, they just took me by surprise," he then proceeded to walk over to the nearest metal table and punch a good dent in it with his right arm. "See? It'll take more than that to get me down. How 'bout you?" he asked.

"Yuki," Saya started, confidently, "I'm a shinyou remember? I heal twice as fast as weak humans do."

"Weak? Who's the one that had to cover for you after you passed out?" Yukito asked smugly.

"Yeah right," Saya replied in the same tone, "the day you save me is the day I start to make you bento lunches for a month."

Yukito drew closer to her face, "That a promise?"

Sayaka came close as well, "A true warrior never goes back on her word."

"Then it's a deal." They both closed they're eyes, their lips grazing each other's-

"NEE-CHAN!!!!!!!!!!" They drew back with a shout, startled as Koi, burst into the room and leapt onto the bed to give Sayaka a giant hug.

"K-Koi-chan?!" Sayaka asked, extremely surprised and confused at the presence of the young girl.

"Sayaka-nee-chan you're awake," added Shizuku who stood at the doorway with everyone else. Sayaka stared in disbelief at the people filtering into the room. There was Koi, energetic as usual but now with signs of her entering womanhood, Shizuku who had grown a bit taller but with the same tender air about her as she always had, the twins Seiji and Eichi, who had changed, obviously, quite a bit since the last time she saw them as toddlers, and then there was Tetsu, who had become a man, but still with the same freckles on his face that gave the impression that he was younger than he actually was.

"What? How-how did you all get here?" asked Sayaka as she looked around the room.

"Remember that big youkai from the last time you saw us?" asked Tetsu, "Well it came back, and it transported all of us to this time."

"O-oh, I see," Sayaka stated simply. She stared down at the ground for a minute with a slightly frightened look on her face; Yukito also noticed that she started to shake just a tiny bit.

She quickly recovered herself though and looked up with a big grin, "In any case though, it's really great to see all of you again." She returned Koi's hug and when they released she remembered something and looked at the ground again, this time looking guilty, "Listen everyone…about what happened that night…I'm sorry I ran away." They all seemed taken aback by this, "I know we were all young but that's still no excuse for me abandoning my friends, so…I'm really sorry."

"What are you talking about Nee-chan?" Koi asked with her same smile.

"Yes, we aren't angry at you at all," added Shizuku.

"We were all frightened, you have nothing to feel ashamed about," concluded Tetsu.

Sayaka looked up and, after a moment, accepted that no one was angry at her, "Thanks everyone."

"Sayaka, do you hurt anywhere? How do you feel?" asked Sota.

"Great, I'm ready to get back out there and kick some ass!" she responds with energy. She then came to another realization, "Hey, Sota-ji-san, where's Mamma?"

"She went out into the city a while ago to look for you."

"We should go look for her then, she might need some back up," she replied as she jumped out of bed.

"She should be okay for now," commented Eichi.

"Yeah, didn't Inuyasha say he was going to look for her?" added Seiji.

Sayaka caught what he said and in a mini-second was directly in front of both of them, "WAIT A MINUTE!" This startled the both of them that they jumped back a step. Sayaka was silent for a moment, staring at the two of them while trying to process what she just heard into what she had believed for the past five years. "You mean…Papa's alive?" They young boys looked at her and then at each other, just a bit confused. "WELL, IS HE?!"

"Yeah!" they both said together, getting even more frightened.

"Why would you think he was dead?" asked Tetsu coming forward.

Sayaka didn't say anything for a moment just backed off from the twins a bit, "He's alive…that thing didn't kill him…what happened after we left?" Tetsu explained some of what he knew to be true.

"So…the well just stopped working…he wasn't dead," Sayaka stated quietly. Once again she was silent, everyone drew closer as she began trembling, it looked like she was crying.

Yukito leaned in towards her, "Saya?" Her trembling increased, she made a faint humming sound, and then-

"**WELL WHAT THE HELL ARE WE WAITING FOR?!**" Everyone quickly jumped out of the way as she exploded from where she was sitting and dashed out the door.

It took a second to process what had happened but after he collected himself, Yukito quickly followed her out, "Hey Saya! Wait up!"

"Come on, let's go too," Tetsu commanded to his siblings who all nodded in response.

"Wait everyone, it's too dangerous out there! Come back!" Sota pleaded as he chased after them as well.

Sayaka was the first to leave the building, followed immediately by Yukito, still begging her to slow down. Next was Tetsu, then Koi, Shizuku, and the last ones to leave the building were Seiji, Eichi, and Sota. The moment the last three had left, a man in the shadows of the alley, activated a strange devise and in an instant, with a blinding white light, Sota and the twins were among the ones frozen in time.

The rest who were further ahead, turned around and saw the three of them, looking exactly as they had just a moment ago.

"Sota-ji-san!" Sayaka called.

"Seiji! Eichi!" added Tetsu, as the dashed back to where they were. They all surrounded the three of them; Koi reached forward to try and touch her younger brother, but just like all the other people in this realm, her hand went right through.

"Wh-what happened?" asked Yukito.

"That would be my doing I'm afraid." The five of them turned towards the small alley where the voice came from. Out of the darkness stepped a man, looking no older than his mid thirties, dressed all in black, with a scar which looked like the remains of a cut stitched up running from his hairline down his right cheek and ending just short of his chin. The strangest thing about this person though, was his eyes; they were each different colors from one another. The one on the left was a gentle pale blue color, it almost looked like he was blind from that side; the one on the right however, was a deep red color, making it appear as if it was bleeding, and the pupil was slit just like a snake's would be.

"Who are you?" Tetsu asked stepping forward his hand on his sword.

"I'm afraid I have no name to give, I was never given one. Though if you wish to call me something, call me Ebisu, it sounds like a powerful name, doesn't it?"

"So you're the one who did all this?" asked Sayaka, becoming increasingly angry at the man's arrogance.

"Indeed young lady," Ebisu replied with an 'almost' kind smile on his face. "If I took too many of you, I don't think even with my strength, I could hold all of you."

"What?" asked Sayaka, surprised by his casual response.

"Oh, yes, I should explain," his face then became somewhat more serious, but without losing its grin. "I'll have to take a couple of you with me for a sort of random, you see your parents have something that I want."

"However," he continued as he surveyed the group, "it seems there are still too many of you, I'll have to freeze a couple more of you." With that he aimed his remote once again and fired a beam of light at them. This time though, all of them were able to get out of the way in time.

Sayaka had heard enough, "You'll regret that, you bastard! Yuki!"

"Right!" The two of them fell into sync and in a flash were right behind him. Their speed didn't even faze the man, and when they both went in for a bone crushing punch, Ebisu pressed a different button on his contraption, and a barrier went up completely encircling him.

The two fighters stayed in place for a moment, amazed at the how easily he had stopped their attack. Eventually they both pulled back, never losing their stance or taking their eyes off of him.

"Terribly sorry," Ebisu called to the two of them as he turned around. He lifted his control to right next to his face. "You see this? Like me it has no name, but has quite a bit of power in it. You've already witnessed two of its powers, to freeze time either aimed at one person or spread to the whole world as I did before, and also it can put up a force field encircling me 360 degrees, including underground, and can withstand even an atomic bomb. It has other interesting features but you'll see them later on."

Sayaka and Yukito grinded their teeth at him, while Tetsu and Koi stared angrily at him and Shizuku looked on with worry.

"Now then," he continued, "It's probably a waste of time for me to say this but: How about instead of fighting a useless battle, you all just be good little boys and girls and HOLD STILL!" He quickly spun around and fired again towards Tetsu's group, they all avoided it again.

"Split up!" shouted Tetsu, and he and his siblings ran one way and Sayaka and Yukito dashed off in the opposite direction.

Once Ebisu was alone, he sighed and spoke, "This is quite troublesome." He raised the remote one more time and this time aimed it at the sky, conjuring a flaming bird, all of its features appearing to be that of a phoenix. "Alright, you go after the three who ran towards the southwest." The bird let out a cry and then flew off in that direction. Once it was gone, the man spoke again, "As for you Flute Charmer," he started. Out of the same alley came the same youkai that had terrorized them all for so long.

"Yes, Master," it responded, kneeling behind him.

"You are to go after the young shinyou and her friend that went to the northeast. Don't kill the girl, but you may do what you wish with the boy."

"Understood," it replied and it disappeared once again.

"As for me," Ebisu continued to himself as he stretched his arms to the sky, "I had best pay a visit to that hanyou, just in case my creatures get a little too carried away." And with that, he put his hands in his pockets and walked calmly into the city.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" Sango launched her weapon at the dozen youkai on the right side as her husband sent a bunch of sutras streaming through the sky at the youkai on the left with help from Shippo's fox fire.

"This is ridiculous," comments an exasperated Miroku. "Not that I actually want it back but it's times like this I wish I still had my Kaazana (Wind Tunnel)."

"We'll just have to deal with it," replies Sango as she catches the Hiraikotsu. Just as she was preparing another attack, from the ground came a fireball, Kirara was barely able to get out of the way in time. However, it didn't stop with that, soon following that one a bunch more were launched from the mouth of a huge ogre on top the roof of an apartment building.

"Kirara, fly higher!" Sango commanded. The two-tailed cat did as she was ordered, but even as she flew into the clouds and avoiding all she could, eventually one hit. Kirara let out a ferocious roar of pain and was then unconscious, sending all of them falling down with her.

They were about to crash onto the middle school when Shippo transformed into his inflatable self and cushioned the fall at the last second.

"Shippo are you alright?" Miroku asked as the kisune changed back to normal.

"Ugh, sure I'd love some sweets right now," he replied disoriented, he had spirals in his eyes and soon passed out.

"I think he'll be fine," said Sango as she cradled a small injured Kirara in her arms. They didn't have anymore time to dawdle though because in the next moment, that same ogre jumped onto the roof they were on and was slowly approaching. The two remaining fighters readied their weapons for another attack, when suddenly a bright light appeared from the ground and immediately following, there came hundreds of shards of diamonds, tearing the youkai into ribbons. Once the attack subsided, there was barely anything left of it and giant crystals were everywhere. The couple stared in amazement for a second and then went to the edge of the roof to see where it came from. There on the ground stood Inuyasha with his sword drawn in one hand and his other arm was being used to support Kagome who was unconscious on his back.

All of them went inside, where they met up and found the nurse's office. Shippo sat in an empty chair, trying to stop his head from throbbing, while Sango held onto Kirara and Inuyasha placed Kagome in an empty bed.

After they had finished patching her up, they all stood and pondered the situation. "I wonder what happened to her," Sango wondered.

"She must've been caught off guard," replied Inuyasha softly.

"Well at least her injuries aren't that serious," Miroku said reassuringly.

"She was delusional when I found her, she thought it was a dream."

"Probably from blood loss, that's all," Sango commented. "Also, this isn't something that happens everyday, even to us."

"It's not that." The couple turned their attention to Inuyasha, he still hadn't taken his eyes off her. "She thought it was a dream because I was there." This surprised the two of them somewhat. "She believed I was dead for all these years."

His face turned even more sorrowful as he said those last words. Sango and Miroku also looked somewhat saddened by this and only looked between Inuyasha and Kagome for a few minutes.

Then Sango spoke up, "It's not your fault though, the well stopped working. There was no way for her to know-" she was cut off by Miroku placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and then back to the two of them, Inuyasha was staring at Kagome, holding her limp hand in his. They both silently agreed it was best to leave them alone for now, and they along with Shippo exited the room.

After they left, Inuyasha continued to sit and stare at the woman in the bed.

_Kagome, I'm so sorry for what happened. I never wanted to leave your side, it must've been so hard._ He picked up her hand and pressed it to his face, taking in the scent he'd not experienced for five years._ I'm such an idiot, I gave up too easily. She must've tried so many times to come back, and then just lost hope…because I didn't come. I just assumed she was alive and thought that was good enough…Kagome I promise I'll protect you with my life,, I'll never make you feel alone again._ He remained this way for quite a while, promising to never leave her side.

Meanwhile, outside stood Ebisu looking up at the tall school._ So this is where you're hiding_ he thought smugly. He raised his remote to his face to get a better look at it, _Well time for the fun to begin._ And he pressed a different button on it and right afterwards, Kagome began to open her eyes.

Inuyasha looked up and noticed this, "Kagome? Are you awake?"

Kagome definitely heard something, but it wasn't a voice, it sounded more like a low growl, she sat up from the bed and looked in Inuyasha's direction. What she saw was a terrifying ogre youkai, about to devour her.

She let out a scream and before Inuyasha knew what was happening, sent an energy beam from her hand straight towards him. Luckily it only grazed his arm but he was still extremely confused at what was happening.

"Kagome! What're you doing? It's me!" Inuyasha shouted. But she only looked at him with horror, he noticed that her eyes had the same glassy look as when someone's being controlled. He got up and tried to walk towards her but in a quick flash she sent another blast at him, grabbed her bow and arrows leaning against the wall and ran out the door.

"Kagome, wait!" Inuyasha called and ran into the hall as well. Once out there Miroku, Sango, and Shippo came out of the room next to it.

"Inuyasha!" called Miroku.

"What happened?" asked Sango urgently.

"Kagome, woke up! But she wasn't herself, she attacked me and looked at me like I was an enemy," Inuyasha explained.

They all ran out to try and get to her, once outside there was no sign of her, but there were more youkai to meet them.

"Damn it! I don't have time to mess around!" Inuyasha said frustrated.

"Don't worry about these things, Inuyasha," said Miroku as he readied his staff.

"Yes, we'll take care of them, you go find Kagome-chan," added Sango.

Inuyasha stood for a moment, but then reluctantly said, "Okay, I owe one you guys." Then he dashed off into the city. He didn't go too far, however, because he soon discovered a man standing in the middle of the road, looking as if he was waiting for him.

"Inuyasha-san I presume?" the man commented.

"What's it to you? How do you know my name?" Inuyasha asked impatiently.

"All in due time, though I suppose you are in a rush to find that beautiful miko of yours," the man said smug as ever.

"What?!" Inuyasha dashed up to him and the man didn't even try to get out of the way as Inuyasha lashed ferociously onto his collar and pulled him close. "What do you know about Kagome?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Hmmmm, what do I know? Well I suppose you'd be interested to know that I'm probably the reason you're chasing her right now."

"WHAT? You bastard!" Inuyasha moved his hand from the collar of his shirt to his neck and slammed him up against the nearest wall. "Tell me what you've done to her!"

"You really are a demanding person, aren't you? Well at least that's a more specific question."

"Cut the crap!" Inuyasha shouted becoming even more infuriated by the second, "Whatever you did, fix her right now!"

"I would, but I want something from you first. Even a half-wit like you should know where the Shikon no Tama is, right?"

"Shikon no Tama? You're the one behind everything that's happened, aren't you?"

"Figured that out all on your own? I'm quite impressed! But anyway, I guess you could say that, yes I am."

Inuyasha really had to fight to keep from breaking his neck in that instant, "You're gonna pay for everything you did, but first you're going to take off whatever spell you have on Kagome!"

"Oh actually it's not a spell," he explained calmly, "You see, I implanted a computer chip onto the back of her neck a couple hours ago, and now that it's activated, anything she sees that is alive she will see as a youkai about to attack her. Her sense of hearing is also affected so there's no point trying to talk to her either, and as an added bonus, whenever she uses her power, it's as if an invisible knife is stabbing at her chest so eventually she'll be killed by the very powers used to protect her."

Inuyasha tightened his grip, "Then you're gonna come with me, and when we find her, you're gonna take that damned thing off of her!"

The man chuckled just a bit, "Why would I do that if you refuse to get me the jewel?"

"ARE YOU DEAF OR WHAT? WE'VE TOLD YOU AND YOUR LITTLE PET OVER AND OVER AGAIN, THE JEWEL WAS DESTROYED, THERE'S NOTHING LEFT OF IT!"

"No, it's here somewhere, my readings don't lie and it's close; however, because its energy is so great I can never pinpoint its exact location, but I assure you it's in this city."

Inuyasha had no idea what he was talking about. "Listen pal, either you come with me and remove that thing, or I'll kill you now and take it off myself. So what's it gonna be?"

"You can't remove it…well actually you could but you'd kill her in the process."

"What?"

"It's attached to her spinal cord, and in case you don't know what that is, it's the connection between the brain and the reflexes used to control the muscles in her body. It even sends the signal for simple things such as breathing and her heart beat. So if you just rip it off you could make it so her heart fails or just stop her breathing reflex and watch her suffocate to death."

Inuyasha could not believe what he was hearing, "You…you…BASTARD!"

"Call me a bastard if you wish but it doesn't change the situation. Now that we understand one another let me repeat my offer; if you go out and find the Shikon no Tama and bring it to me, then I'll safely remove the chip from Kagome-sama's neck. Understand, Inuyasha-san?"

Inuyasha didn't say a word, but he did let him down. The man brushed off some dirt from his outfit and took something out of his pocket. "Here you are, since you're telling me you don't know where it is I'll give this to you, it's a tracker that gives the most general location for the jewel within an approximate one mile radius. Once you find it, bring it and your lover to the base of Mt. Fuji and I'll remove the chip."

Oh," he continued while taking out his remote, "I'd hurry as well, not only does Kagome-sama have her life on the line, but I sent some more of my 'pets' to fetch yours and your friends' children, and I'm afraid they can get carried away sometimes."

"I'll KILL YOU, YOU BAS-" but before Inuyasha could attack or even finish his sentence, the man sent off a blinding light and by the time Inuyasha could see again, the man had vanished, not even his scent remained. Inuyasha stood on the vast street, worried but infuriated even more by all that's happened. As he stood and thought about the situation, the hand holding the tracker gripped so hard that it crushed the thing to pieces as he let a quiet but frightening curse out of his mouth. "Damn!"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

A/N: Hey guys, sorry I was late again for this chapter, college paperwork sucks  anyways, here is the long awaited chapter nine:Dances and cheers throughout the world:, hopefully this one was pretty straight forward but if you need anything explained just tell me in a review and I'll mention it in the next chapter or I'll send you a message. Okay? Well that's all for now, my hand cramps are really bad and I'm getting hungry for chicken. Mmmmmmm chicken… Once again ARIGATO


	10. Chapter 10

Sayaka and Yukito sat up against the alley wall, breathing heavily and anxiously listening in case Ebisu or one of his minions had followed them. Even though the poison was out of their system, some of the effects remained, so their energy depleted much sooner than usual.

"I don't think anything's followed us," commented Yukito as he peered from around the dumpster they were hiding behind.

"Can't let our guards down though," added Sayaka as she strained her ears, "They could come at us at any minute."

Yukito noticed that she had her hands clamped together and for the first time since they met, he saw her shaking.

"Saya? Are you okay?"

"Even though in my mind I can tell myself we'll be okay…I just can't stop shaking." She attempted to chuckle, but it came out more like a whimper.

The shaking continued from her hands to her torso until her whole body was trembling. Yukito placed a hand on her shoulder and said softly, "Hey," she looked at him, "You don't have to worry, together there's nothing that can stop us. I promise…I won't let them get you."

They were silent for a moment but then Sayaka looked away and spoke in a dead sort of voice, "You don't understand Yuki," he looked at her with confusion, "whatever this guy's plan is, it involves me…and he'll get rid of anyone to get to me."

"Saya…"

"I'm not scared just for my own life…I don't want anyone else to die, but I don't know if I'll be able to do anything if someone else needs me."

Yukito stared at her for a moment. _I haven't seen __Saya__ like this…__not __since we met__ I mean_ he thought.

Before anything else could be said though, Sayaka looked up and said with urgency, "I hear something coming, it's big. We have to go now!"

"Okay, let's go." They both stood up and looked around, they didn't see anything. They started to move away when something called out of the darkness.

"It's been a while young lady."

They both froze, Sayaka didn't move, she knew who it was, but Yukito turned around and saw the same monster that attacked his friend and her family, five years ago.

The monster moved with inhuman speed, but not faster than Yukito. In a flash, he grabbed onto Sayaka and dove out of the way just before its gigantic claw ripped them to shreds.

"Oh right, I'm supposed to take the girl alive aren't I?" The monster said aloud.

Yukito sat up and looked at it with determination, "Come on Saya! We can take on this-" He looked over and saw that his partner wasn't looking at it with the usual calm but strong eyes she has when fighting. She looked frail and scared, like a lost little child.

"SAYA!" She snapped out of her trance and broke her gaze to look at Yukito. "You have to focus, we can do this!"

"Uh, um right," she replied and they both stood up and took the fighting stance.

"I knew you wouldn't come quietly," the monster sighed as he surveyed the two of them. Both of them held strong their positions, even Sayaka's trembling had ceased.

"That was what I was hoping for," it growled and put on an even fiercer face. Sayaka's eyes widened but still had their angry glare. The monster disappeared again, taking Sayaka off guard for a moment as she began to panic.

"SAYA WHAT'RE YOU DOING?" She was snapped out of her trance again and in the nick of time, dodged the attack again. They didn't have any time to rest though because in the next instant came another swipe. The Flute Charmer was completely chaotic with his attacks, which made it impossible to find a pattern, and it was getting harder and harder to keep dodging its attacks. To make things worse, the poison's effect was still there so eventually, the two of them began to slow down with exhaustion.

After a while, the claws stopped coming and the monster disappeared.

They both anxiously looked around them. "Where is it?" asked Yukito, almost in a whisper. Sayaka's trembling began again, and it was soon that the Flute Charmer appeared behind her. She had a delayed reaction out of panic, and just as the thing was about to claw her again, Yukito dove and took the blunt of the attack as he pushed Sayaka out of the way.

"Yuki!" Sayaka screamed as she held him in her arms. He was bleeding freely from the wound and groaning loudly. Then only thing that tore her eyes from him was the sound of the approaching footsteps. The thing was coming even closer to them, and Sayaka was taken back to the same terrible moment when it advanced on her and her friends in the forest. Her mind was blank, her body trembling, and her eyes wide with fear.

"Now then," it said to her in a casual voice, "Why don't you come with me before I start to get excited?" But Sayaka still couldn't move it was just like back then; she was useless. "I suppose I'll have to carry you won't I?"

It moved closer, one of its gigantic arms reached forward to grab her, when Yukito's eyes flashed open and in an instant, he landed a powerful kick onto the Charmer's torso, knocking it down onto its back. "Now's your chance, GO!" Yukito cried loudly to her as he stood up and took the fighting stance once again. Sayaka stared with shock at him for this order.

"But, Yuki-"

"There's no time! GO!" He cried, even louder this time. She began having even more flashbacks now, it's the same, someone is about to die for her and she isn't moving.

…_A cry of pain with lots of blood_----The monster stood.

…"_Take __Sayaka__ and go!"_----It disappeared again.

…_The wind against her hair as she's carried away from her old life forever_---- Yukito prepares for the final blow as the monster's claws come within an inch of his face-

Blood…blood along with an earsplitting crack sound, the monster stood in silence and Yukito with a look of utter shock, neither of them moved a muscle. Sayaka stood between them; the monster's arm was bending in the opposite direction, as her arm held a fist right at the beast's elbow.

"YOU MISERABLE LITTLE-" the Charmer screeched, but before he could finish, she twisted his arm again. It howled in pain, in the next instant she landed a kick and knocked it against a brick wall, causing the whole thing to collapse down on top of it; and the monster was still.

During the whole confrontation, Yukito could only stare with awe at the display, and was still silent for a few moments afterwards.

"Saya…that was amazing!" He ran up to her with a proud smile on his face. "I told ya, you could take that thing!"

She looked at him, a dreamy look on her face, "Yeah, I guess I could-"

Before she could finish though, she covered her mouth with her hands, ran to the nearest corner, and vomited. Yukito went to her and placed his arm on her back and comforted her until she was finished.

"It was still really cool," he said with an anime sweat drop.

"Thank you," she replied with a smile as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve, "I don't think its dead though. We should get moving, I don't think I could do that again right away."

Yukito didn't complain, he just smiled, nodded, and slung her arm over his shoulder and quickly carried her away.

"KAGOME!!!!!! SAYAKA!!!!!!!!!" Inuyasha called into the dark and silent city. He was leaping from rooftop to rooftop, looking carefully but quickly at every inch of the city, desperately searching for his family; it was clear he was panicking.

_Damn it! Where the hell are they?_ He asked himself as he gritted his teeth, the memory of the last encounter he had with that man still buzzing around in his head. Eventually he came to an open courtyard and forced himself to calm down long enough to try and sniff them out. Luckily, he was finally able to pick up a small trace of Kagome's scent. He dashed off in that direction after her and after a few minutes he found her running down a street infested with low level youkai, she was shooting arrow after arrow at them and looking like she could collapse at any minute.

She was fighting ferociously, until her foot gave out and she fell onto the ground. She was about to be devoured when Inuyasha leapt into action.

"**KAZE NO KIZU!"** And with that, all the youkai had been obliterated, leaving only him and her.

Kagome, sat up in a confused state, obviously wandering where they had all gone, when Inuyasha called out to her.

"Kagome?" She turned around, startled. To her, the man she loved still appeared and sounded like an ogre. She attempted to run away, but Inuyasha was quicker and grabbed onto her arm.

"Kagome, you have to snap out of it! IT'S ME!" But even as he said this with even more urgency, Kagome only saw an ogre, roaring as it's about to take a bite out of her. With another shout, she filled one of her hands up with energy and pushed him hard on the chest. Inuyasha released her out of reflex and was left holding his chest where she hit him; a gaping hole in his kimono was in the same spot so that his white under clothe was showing.

They both stood apart from each other then, Inuyasha's eyes filled with pain while Kagome's filled with fear. He continued to hold his chest while she kept both of her hands filled with energy, afraid for another attack.

Inuyasha carefully took a slow step towards her, but she also stepped back and said, "Don't come near me!" This made Inuyasha even more panicked, but he dare not make any sudden moves until he knew what to do. So thus, they were at a standstill for a moment as Inuyasha tried to come up with a way for her to realize that it was him.

_What am I going to do,_ he thought, _she can't see me and she can't hear me. Plus, even if I try to get close to her, she'll either run away or try to attack me again._

He continued to ponder for several more seconds until he noticed that Kagome was slowly moving down. He looked to where she was reaching and realized that she was getting her bow and arrows. Out of impulse he dashed towards her to try and stop her, but was too slow. Kagome quickly grabbed her bow and an arrow, aimed and fired one at him while he was leaping into the air. The attack missed him by a mile, which worried him more than if it was aiming dead center. He looked down at her and saw that she was breathing very heavily and had deep dark circles under her eyes.

_I have to stop her from using her powers or else she won't make it_ he thought to himself. He landed on the ground a few feet from where she was standing and made another dash towards her. Kagome reached for another arrow but then realized that she was out. In that time Inuyasha had come face to face with her, she charged up her bow but he swiped it out of her hands before she could attack. She then attempted to hit him with her hands again, but he was faster than she this time. In a flash, he grabbed onto both of her arms, and twisted her around so that he held her hands in check as she was held to him, facing away with her arms crossed over her chest.

"NO LET ME GO!" she screamed as she struggled with all her might to break free.

"Ka…go…me! You have to stop, or else you'll die!" Inuyasha managed to get out as he wrestled with her to keep her still. "Isn't there anyway to make you realize it's me?"

Kagome didn't reply, she looked behind her and to her utter horror she saw the ogre about to bite into her. She let out a small scream as she closed her eyes and waited for the pain.

_I'm going to die…I'm going to die_, she thought to herself. She waited a few moments and to her surprise, nothing came. She reopened her eyes, looked back again and saw the same exact thing as before, a ferocious ogre about to chomp down into her, and for the second time, she shut her eyes tight and waited for the impact. Once again though, nothing came.

_What's going on?_ She wondered. _Why didn't it kill me yet?_ She opened her eyes again, but didn't look back this time; instead she looked at how she was being held. She looked at her arms, they were held away from her attacker, but also away from her own self so that she wouldn't get hurt.

She closed her eyes again and thought, _Something's very strange about this, the way it's holding me, __it's__ tight…but not painful. Like it just wants me to hold still._ It was then that she took away the powers in her hands and carefully stroked the hands of the person holding her with her fingers. _These don't feel like what they appear, these hands are smaller…and soft._

She had an idea, she spoke to the one holding her, "Could you please let me go?" It did, but kept one of its hands on her arm. She grabbed onto that hand and felt it with both of hers; she was beginning to make a mental picture of who this really was. The hands were smaller than she saw, but were larger than hers and had smaller claws than an ogre. She moved up the forearm and felt cloth. _The ogre wasn't wearing a kimono,_ she realized. She continued and felt the muscles on it as she moved up to the shoulder and to the neck where she felt that he was wearing a necklace of some kind. She felt every bead, most of them were round but the others were shaped like fangs, this was very familiar.

_It…it couldn't be,_ she thought to herself. The chip in the back of her neck began to give off a small discharge of electricity. She moved up the neck, and felt around the facial features to picture what he looked like. These were even more familiar, and when she reached to feel for ears, they weren't there. On instinct, she slowly brought her hands up towards the top of his head.

Closer…closer…every inch closer the chip gave off more and more discharge. She kept going until she found what she was looking for, almost at the very top of his head, were dog ears on either side.

She began to weep, the chip was full to bursting with power but still active…until she said one word.

"Inuyasha." The chip frizzled in a pop and a little bit of smoke. She let out a cry of pain and grabbed the back of her neck. She fell to her knees, but that person supported her as she tried to get rid of the pain.

"Kagome?" She reopened her eyes and slowly looked up, and then she saw him. The man she's loved for so long, looking down at her with great concern in his eyes. "Can you see me?"

She stared at him for a moment and then began to weep again. "Inuyasha!" She fell into his chest, and he covered her with his arms, an embrace she had longed missed. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know! I'm so sorry, I…"

"It's alright…it's alright now," he whispered as he held her tighter. "You're safe, I'm here." And for a long time, they just held each other, something they had both been longing, for so long.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: (Trumpet fanfare) AND HERE IT IS FOLKS, THE LONG OVERDUE CHAPTER 10!!!! dances and cheers Once again I am very sorry for the delay but I hope you like this chapter, I worked really hard on it and I would like a lot of reviews if you don't mind. Well, there's not much left to say except keep on reading, there's still a lot more to go and no matter how it looks, I promise to keep going for all my fans' sakes. So until next time, ARIGATO!


	11. Chapter 11

"HIRAIKOTSU!" Sango shouted as she hurled her weapon at yet another youkai. It's been about an hour (or would have been if time was moving) since her and the others took over the fight so Inuyasha could search for Kagome. Fortunately it looked as if the numbers were finally starting to decrease.

"Keep it up!" Miroku shouted to the rest of them as he destroyed another one with his staff, "We've only got a few more to go!" But even as he said this, the four of them looked to the sky and saw another whole gaggle of youkai coming in for a second wave.

"There are more of them coming," Shippo said as he began to panic.

"It can't be helped we'll just have to lead them away!" Sango commanded. She, Miroku, and Shippo jumped on top of Kirara and they began flying away at top speed; however, the youkai close on their tails as Kirara panted heavily in a desperate attempt to increase her speed.

"Kirara's too tired; we'll never outrun them!" Shippo called out.

Miroku then noticed something on one of the rooftops. It appeared to be a gigantic flaming bird and it was attacking something.

"Something's down there!" He called and pointed to where the commotion was. As they got closer, they discovered it was Tetsu, Koi, and Shizuku fending off the phoenix.

"Shippo, can you transform?" Sango asked quickly.

"I gotcha!" Shippo replied and without another moment's hesitation he transformed into his inflatable self and went down to the kids. "Everyone jump on!" The kids looked in the direction of his voice and realized what it meant. The girls ran to the edge of the building and Tetsu released a smoke bomb to confuse the creature if only for a moment. After the cloud appeared, he too leapt off the side of the roof and onto Shippo.

"Tou-chan! Kaa-chan!" Koi cheered happily as she saw her parents on the back of Kirara. They didn't have time to celebrate though, because in the next instant the bird sent a jet of flames towards them and missed only by a fraction of an inch.

"Are you all alright?" Miroku asked quickly.

"We're okay Otou-san," Shizuku replied.

"Where're you're brothers?"

"A man appeared and made them become frozen like everything else here along with Kagome-sama's brother," Tetsu replied.

"A man?" questioned Sango. "How did he-" Another jet of fire appeared along with the roar of the dozen of youkai following them as well.

"We'll explain later. Right now we have to deal with all of these," Tetsu commented.

They flew for a little while, dodging flame attacks as they went, until Miroku came to a realization.

"I have an idea!" He called, "Kirara turn around and go past the bird. Shippo, you follow us." And with that they carried out their orders and soon they had youkai in the front and a phoenix in the rear.

"Wait, you guys aren't planning to…" Shippo started.

"Yes, now on my signal make a sharp left," commanded Sango. They flew closer and closer to the oncoming rampage of youkai, and the phoenix was steadily catching up to them with every second past. Soon they were only 10 meters from each of them, and the bird was preparing to fire the biggest fireball of all them.

Just as it released the attack, Sango shouted, "NOW!" and they all made a quick, sharp turn and the fireball headed straight for the youkai. The creatures were all incinerated within seconds and in the time it took for the bird to figure out what had happened, Miroku took this chance to leap from Kirara and land a hard hit on it with his staff; packing as much spiritual energy in it as he could muster. The phoenix reared its head in pain as Miroku rebounded back onto Kirara behind Sango. It screeched in dismay for a moment, but within a few moments it disappeared in a flash of light; defeated.

The two groups then landed on another rooftop in order to rest and discuss what they all had encountered after they separated. Sango and Miroku told their story first and then Tetsu explained what happened from the time Sayaka woke up to when they were found battling the phoenix.

"I see," Miroku stated simply. "So it would appear that this man is behind all that has happened recently."

"He said that there was something that you all had that he wanted," added Shizuku.

They all thought about this for a moment until Shippo spoke up, "That sounds like what that monster said. You think he's behind him too?"

"It's very possible," Miroku replied.

Sango added, "If that's true then he probably is the one that put Kagome-chan in that state."

"He'll be after Sayaka too then!" Tetsu realized, "We should go out and look for them."

"Tetsu," Miroku called calmly. "I understand how you feel, but neither Shippo nor Kirara, or any of us for that matter are in any condition to fight again right away." He was right, Kirara was still panting in Sango's arms and Shippo had his eyes closed and leaning up against the doorway to go inside the building. "As difficult as it is, we'll have to wait a bit so we can recover."

"But what about Sayaka-nee-chan?" Koi asked apprehensively as she stood. "She's not in any condition to fight either so what if…?"

"Don't worry Koi," Sango said with a smile. "I can see great strength in her. She's improved immensely since we last saw her, and that boy she's with is powerful as well. Plus…"

She looked at all of them with the greatest look of faith in her eyes, "Inuyasha would never let anything happen to the only flesh and blood he has left."

Leaping across the rooftops, Inuyasha carried Kagome on his back. She was awake, but the effects of the chip have left her so weak she couldn't even walk. She grunted slightly with pain after one particularly hard landing.

"Are you alright Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, pausing to check on her.

"Don't worry," she replied softly, "I'll be okay. Please I want to find Sayaka."

"Okay then." Inuyasha commented before continuing on their way.

Kagome chuckled a little, "This is so nostalgic. Just like the times after we started our travels…"

"Yeah…" Inuyasha replied softly; his voice sounded painful. "Kagome?"

"Hm? What it is?"

"…I'm sorry."

Kagome was a bit surprised by this, "Sorry for what?"

Inuyasha paused slightly before he responded, "For not being there for you. It must've been hard…for both of you."

Kagome understood what he meant. "You didn't do anything wrong-"

"Yes I did!" Inuyasha shouted suddenly as he stopped on another rooftop. "I gave up too easily…I was so occupied in thinking that you'd be alive…I didn't realize how much you'd actually be hurting."

Kagome listened intently, and when he was finished she looked away slightly. "Actually…I gave up too."

Inuyasha turned his head to look at her, "I assumed the worst, and made myself accept it. Even if I kept trying, I never believed…that there would be someone waiting for us."

"Kagome…"

She laughed a little harder as tears weald up in the corners of her eyes, "I guess we're both idiots, aren't we?"

Inuyasha closed his eyes and smiled slightly. "Let's just drop it."

Kagome nodded and agreed.

"I promise, I'll always be there for you Kagome, you and her." With that he leapt into the air again, but from the air, he was able to smell something. "I can smell him."

"Who?"

"The bastard who's behind all this," he said through gritted teeth. "Once we take him down, all our problems will be solved." Inuyasha picked up the pace, and headed in the direction of Mt. Fujiyama.

Sayaka and Yukito had returned to the Higurashi shrine after their encounter with the Flute Charmer. They stayed in the kitchen with the lights out and listened for any sign of someone approaching as Sayaka patched up the wound from the claw marks on Yukito's back.

"I'm sorry Yuki. You got hurt because I was too slow." Sayaka apologized as she tended to him.

"You're still worried about that?" Yukito asked as he sat hunched over in his chair. "Don't worry about it, in the end you're the one who saved us."

"I guess…it was weird though, my body felt like it just moved on its own." She commented as she tightened the last bandage. "I haven't done something like that since I was a kid."

Yukito put his shirt back on and turned to face her, "Well whatever it was I'm glad for it." He smiled at her and Sayaka blushed.

Yukito laughed, "Gotcha!"

Sayaka became slightly annoyed, "You jerk." In spite of that though, she looked down sadly again.

"Now what is it? This depressed thing really doesn't suit you."

"Yuki, are you okay with this?"

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"About me, even though you say it's fine, it's because you're with me that you're in danger like this now."

"I still don't get what you're asking Saya." Yukito said, becoming more confused by the minute.

"Look at us," Sayaka continued, "you've lived here forever, lived an average life, and then look at me, I'm not even really human. So I guess what I'm really asking is…do you want to stay with me?"

Yukito was pretty taken aback by this and wasn't able to respond right away. Sayaka added during his pause, "It's alright if you aren't. After this is all over, if you never want to see me again, I'll understand."

"Okay, seriously, you're really starting to piss me off Saya!" She looked up at him. He grabbed both of her shoulders and brought her in close to his angry face.

"Is that what you think of me? Do I seem like the kind of selfish person to leave you after we run into a bit of trouble?" He asked loudly.

She attempted to turn her head but he shouted, "Don't look away! I asked you something!" She looked back at him but couldn't say anything. "Saya, if I really cared about staying out of trouble I would've been gone a long time ago." His expression became less angry and his voice softened a little, "We've been in jams before and we've always gotten out of them together, I'm not about to chicken out now."

"But Yuki this is different."

"How?" Yukito asked quietly as he relaxed his arms a bit from her shoulders, "This isn't any different from anything else we've been in. We've only got a few more asses to kick this time." He smiled and continued to look into her eyes. Sayaka also smiled and looked down slightly.

"Did I sound that conceded?" She asked.

"Yeah, you did." Then, all of a sudden, they began to laugh and they weren't able to stop for several minutes.

"Alright," Sayaka said after she was finally able to control herself. "Let's get out there and kick some asses then!"

"That's the Saya I know!"

The both headed for the door and were about to leave when Sayaka said, "Oh yeah, and Yuki?"

"What?"

She turned to him and pointed a finger to his nose; her claw an inch from his skin, "If you ever talk to me like that again, I swear I'll pound your head into the ground." She smiled and continued to the door.

Yukito had a nervous smile and an anime sweat drop as he thought, _Yeah that's Saya alright. __Murderous as always._

Sayaka opened the door with Yukito right behind and immediately gasped.

"You really shouldn't talk so loud in there," the Flute Charmer commented, "Someone might find you and hurt you."

Sayaka screamed…and then all was black.

"Inuyasha! Kagome-sama!" Inuyasha with Kagome still riding on his back, was heading towards Mt. Fuji. The two of them looked up towards the voice calling them and stopped as they saw the rest of their group landing in front of them. Kagome regained a lot of her strength so Inuyasha let her down as everyone else dismounted.

"Are you both alright?" Miroku asked them.

"Yeah we're fine," Inuyasha replied.

"Yes, I can't believe it, I thought I'd never see you all again," Kagome added as she looked at all of her old friends.

"It's great to see you too Kagome-chan," Sango said happily as she gave her a warm hug.

Inuyasha also surveyed the group during this. "Hey, I thought Sayaka was with you kids."

"She was," Tetsu replied, "but we split up after a man with a strange device appeared. He tried to capture us and also froze our brothers and Sota-sama like the rest of the world."

"Sota…" Kagome said sadly.

"Don't worry," Inuyasha said to her. "Once we take down that guy, everything will go back to normal."

Everyone gave a definite nod and in a moment they were on their way once again. They continued without stopping until they reached the base. Inuyasha sniffed the air to try and find which way they were to go next.

"That's not necessary." They turned towards the direction the voice came from. Out of a small door-like opening leading into the mountain walked the man called Ebisu. He addressed the group, calm as always, "If I'm the one you're looking for, I'm right here."

"Keh! You've got a lot guts showing your face like this," growled Inuyasha as he unsheathed his sword. "I should kill you right now for everything you've put us through."

"No I don't think you should," Ebisu said with a kind-like smile. "I'm afraid that if you do-"

"I've already broken through your hallucination," Kagome interrupted. "I can see everything perfectly."

"You hear that?" Inuyasha asked. "There's nothing holding us back."

"Perhaps you should let me finish before you do anything rash," Ebisu suggested. "I haven't even properly introduced myself to most of you."

"WON'T MATTER IN A MINUTE!" Inuyasha charged at him with his sword drawn.

"Wait Inuyasha-san!" Koi called. But it was too late, just as he was about to land a blow, Ebisu put up the same barrier as before and threw Inuyasha back.

"I told you to listen before you act," Ebisu commented as the barrier dispersed. Inuyasha said nothing but continued to glare at him with gritted teeth.

"I must say I'm quite impressed Kagome-sama," Ebisu said as he directed his attention towards her. "I thought I knew the full extent of your power but I suppose even just five years can change a person quite a bit. Oh well, one mistake leads to a new load of information." Kagome stared even more angrily at him.

"Just what do you want so badly that you go through all this trouble to get it?" Miroku asked him.

"I keep telling you," Ebisu said with a sigh, "all I want is the Shikon no Tama. Believe me, I don't like all this trouble either, but if you'd only given me the jewel in the first place, we all could've saved so much time."

"So you _are_ the one who sent that monster before," Sango said.

"Indeed, my chosen name is Ebisu, though I'm not sure that's correct. I seem to have forgotten the name I was given at birth."

"You keep asking for the impossible," Miroku stated. "We've told you and your ally before that the jewel no longer exists."

"I know, and I believe that you honestly believe that it is gone. However, I've already told Inuyasha-san that I have proof that it is still in this world. I know you destroyed the one I gave you," he gestured to Inuyasha, "but I have my spare tracer and the signal for the jewel's energy is still strong. In fact, I think it's even gotten stronger. Perhaps it's around this mountain"

Now Tetsu was beginning to get annoyed, "If you're so sure then why don't you go get it yourself?"

"Tetsu!" Sango said sharply.

"My device can't detect its exact presence," Ebisu continued calmly. "That's why I needed you all to go and find it. I know that you can locate where it is, Kagome-sama."

"I don't even know why we're still talking," Inuyasha spoke up. "Sooner or later I'll bust through that barrier of yours and erase every trace that you've ever been born."

"I already said you shouldn't do that. I have something that I can reward you with if you do give me the jewel." They all looked to him with surprise, wondering what he was talking about.

"Look up to the next ledge of the mountain." They all did and noticed different, larger opening. "Go in there and you'll see what I mean. I'll meet you once you reach the center of the mountain. Until then…" He teleported away before they could do anything else.

"Should we go?" Miroku asked. "We could be walking into a trap."

"We'd have to go in some time or another anyway, and at least this way we know where he'll be," Kagome replied.

"Keh! I don't care what's waiting for us, I'll cut up anything in my way," Inuyasha added.

"It's decided then," Sango concluded. "The rest of you wait out here with Shippo."

"What?" Koi asked annoyed. "But Kaa-san…"

"Not another word, don't move until we come out." The conversation ended there as they went inside and left the children behind them.

"I can't believe this," Tetsu said angrily.

"You'll all just have to be patient," Shippo said, trying to be cool as he dropped his head and closed his eyes. "They just don't want anyone else getting hurt and they have a lot more experience with…" he opened his eyes and saw that Tetsu and Koi were already following after their parents and friends. Shippo stared dumbfound at them, "No respect at all…"

"I was listening Shippo-nii-chan," Shizuku said as she tried to cheer him up. But he only groaned and looked at the ground sadly.

Inuyasha and the others continued into the tunnel, but as far as they went there seemed to be no end to the darkness.

"Damn it," Inuyasha cursed, "how long is this damn tunnel?"

"Be patient, I think I see the end up ahead," Miroku said. It was true; about 50 feet ahead there was a dim fiery red glow. They all quickened their pace and when they finally reached the end they emerged to what seemed like the center of the mountain. There was a pool of molten lava beneath them and in the center was a single piece of earth with another strange piece of machinery on it.

"There you all are!" They looked across to the other ledge and sure enough, there he was sitting in a throne-like metal chair. "I was wondering how long it would take you to get here."

"Enough games already!" Inuyasha called.

"Right, right," Ebisu replied. "On to business. Well you know what I want…"

"THE STUPID JEWEL IS GONE! HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT?"

"Let me finish, that is if you want what's yours back." They all looked startled by that comment. "If you go and bring me the Shikon no Tama, I will return that," he pointed a finger upwards. They all looked up and saw a cylinder shaped metal pole with strange writing on it. It was being suspended by four chains, two on the bottom and two on the top. The heat made their vision hazy for a moment, but eventually it became clear as to what Ebisu was talking about. Tied around the pole on either side were the slightly beaten up bodies of Wakamatsu Yukito, and Higurashi Sayaka.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

A/N: Well, here's chapter 11. Sorry this one took longer than usual, but I hope that the great story makes up for it. As you all probably already know, I'm in college and I have some midterms and research papers coming up in the near future. College life is even more busy than I thought it would be, so you should expect the next chapter to come sometime during or shortly after Thanksgiving break okay? Until then, good luck to all my fellow students! ARIGATO

P.S. Please write me many reviews, whenever I get depressed or in a slump from writing, your comments are what keep me going :D!


	12. Chapter 12

Sayaka's head was killing her; in fact, her whole body was. Wherever she was, it was hot too.

"Oh man…" she groaned softly to herself as she tried to open her eyes. It was only then that she realized that she was tied up. "H-hey! What the hell is this?"

"Saya?" Yukito called softly.

"Yuki?" Sayaka called in the same pitch. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"We were kidnapped by that jerk. Stay quiet for a minute while I work through these chains."

"Okay." She responded.

"YOU BASTARD!" Her eyes snapped open for a moment when she heard that. She recognized that voice at once.

_Papa?_ She thought to herself. She was facing in the opposite direction of where the voice came from but allowed her eyes to open ever so slightly and shift her head just a bit to the side to see what was happening.

"LET THEM GO RIGHT NOW!" Inuyasha commanded furiously. He looked steamed, Sango and Miroku looked concerned, and Kagome was trembling and looked to be on the verge of tears.

"You know the conditions: go and find the jewel and I will release them safely," Ebisu commented calmly. "If not-"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence though because Inuyasha sent a Kaze no Kizu straight in his direction. At the last moment he put up a force field to block it; which resulted in an explosion and a huge cloud of dust where his chair used to be. He dispelled his shield only to be met with Inuyasha charging at him with his sword. Ebisu dodged by jumping back onto another ledge at the last moment once again; this was repeated for another few minutes.

"Enough of this!" Ebisu shouted; this was the first time he actually sounded agitated at all. He put up one more barrier and as Inuyasha collided with it, he was sent flying backwards right back to where the others were standing.

"Are you alright Inuyasha?" Kagome asked as she helped him sit up. He didn't answer; he just continued to stare at Ebisu.

"You are becoming quite the rash nuisance," Ebisu said as he stressed the word "rash". "I'm beginning to think you have no intention of complying with me."

"We aren't!" Inuyasha called up to him.

"The Shikon no Tama was destroyed 15 years ago," Miroku added.

"We all saw it obliterated," said Sango

"Even if we wanted to, we couldn't bring you it," Kagome finished.

"You keep saying that," Ebisu responded with increased anger rising in his voice. "But I know it's not true! My machines don't lie; it is somewhere nearby! Now go out and find it if you care even the slightest about what happens you your precious girl and her friend!"

Inuyasha still had an angry look on his face as he shifted his gaze to look at where the pole with Sayaka and Yukito was. His expression changed though when he looked; he looked surprised at first, but then he got a grin on his face as he looked back over towards Ebisu.

"What are you smiling about your little twit?" Ebisu asked through gridded teeth.

"You should make bargains only when you have something to return," Inuyasha said smugly.

"What!" Ebisu looked up and saw that both of the children were gone. "WHERE DID THEY GO?!"

"Right here asshole." Ebisu spun around but was too late in blocking a powerful bunch strait to the face by Sayaka herself. He was sent flying and crashed into another wall. After the smoke cleared, they could see that he was moving but was clearly in pain as he wiped the blood from his lip.

"Honestly," Yukito commented as Ebisu sat up, "I've picked bike locks that were stronger than this one. Who do you think you're keeping?" Yukito held up the lock and crushed it in his bare hand.

The man stood up with a new posture. "You…" Everyone looked at Ebisu with new concern at the dangerous tone now appearing in his voice. "I don't care what I have to do. I'll kill if I have to, but I will get that jewel. I will not die like every other worthless being in this world."

"What's with him?" Inuyasha asked, while not taking his eyes off of him. Kagome's attention was on him as well but she could see something extra. There seemed to be two different auras emitting out of him. In terms of colors, one was red and the other was green. Then, another source of the red aura appeared.

"I'll take care of this Master," it said. The Flute Charmer appeared right behind Ebisu as he quietly simmered. "Perhaps a little more motivation is in order. Don't you agree master?"

"I leave it to you."

"Very well," it replied calmly now. That's when it sent a beam of energy towards Sayaka and Yukito. They dodged it easily though and continued to move as they fell into synch with each other.

"Damn you, leave her alone!" Inuyasha raised his sword. "KONGOSOHA!" Tens of thousands of shards of adamant were sent soaring towards the beast. However, not surprisingly, he dodged them with his awesome speed again and that's when he focused his attention on Inuyasha' group. Inuyasha began with attacking it with Kaze no Kizu: one after the other. It only took a few moments for Kagome and the others to join in as well. (Note: I'm going to leave it up to you to picture what attacks they use at this point).

In the meantime, Sayaka and Yukito landed on the ground by the tunnel where they all came in. They stared at everyone fighting just for a second and they were about to join in when Tetsu and Koi came in as well.

"Sayaka!"

"Nee-chan!"

The two of them turned around to meet the two of them. "You guys!" Sayaka said almost surprised.

"Are you two alright?" Tetsu asked.

"We're okay, but," she stopped for a second to look at everyone fighting; the others looked as well. "I doubt anyone will last much longer in this though. We have to defeat that thing."

"What should we do?" Tetsu asked. They were quiet for a moment as they pondered this. Yukito looked all around the cavern until his gaze rested on Ebisu standing calmly on a ledge opposite of where they were. Yukito saw that his arms were folded and in his right arm was the remote he's been using.

"I got it!" The kids all looked at him. "All we got to do is get that guy's remote control!"

"We don't know how to use that thing though," Koi commented.

"We don't have to, all we have to do is hold it ransom," he replied.

"Sounds good to me, it all else fails I can still use it to bust his head open," Sayaka said as she punched her right fist into her left hand angrily.

The two remaining siblings nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's come up with a plan…"

Back at the fight, Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku all sent attacks toward the Charmer but he easily deflected each. Inuyasha fell to one knee, using Tessiaga for support as he tried to catch his breath for a second.

"Damn it!" He cursed before running back in.

The rest of the kids were in a huddle back on the ground as they finalized their plan.

"Okay," Yukito said quietly, "everyone got it?" They all nodded and turned to face the turmoil. "Let's go!" With that, they all set off.

Sayaka, Yukito, and Tetsu all set off around the fighting towards Ebisu while Koi aimed her disks and sent them both flying towards him. Ebisu saw the disks coming and put up his barrier in time to block them. As soon as they bounced off, the barrier was released and Tetsu appeared and attempted to slash him with his sword, he dodged him too.

"You ignorant little brats!" Ebisu cried out in rage, "You're all way out of your league with me!"

Just as he finished that sentence Yukito appeared on his left and sent a jab at him. Ebisu quickly pointed his remote in Yukito's direction and put up a barrier. Once Yukito bounded off, the barrier was dissipated.

"SAYA! NOW!" Sayaka appeared behind Ebisu and was an inch away from grabbing a hold of the remote. At the last second though, Ebisu used his free hand to clutch around her neck and throw her right into Yukito who was still in mid air just below. The two of them went flying and crashed into another wall. When the smoke cleared, Sayaka was on top of Yukito and they remained that way for several moments as they tried to collect themselves.

"I told you, didn't I? It'll take more than a few rounds to-" Ebisu stopped when he heard a high whirring sound from his devise. Everyone else who was fighting stopped as well to listen. He looked carefully at his readings; they were off the charts. "It can't be…" He pointed it in the direction of the two teens who were also listening; the sound got louder and the readings went even higher. "What does this mean? Why is it only responding now?"

"It seems they were telling the truth Master." The Flute Charmer appeared behind him. "The Shikon no Tama was indeed destroyed, but it has been reincarnated; into these two children."

Everyone was shocked; no one said a word for a long time. Yukito and Sayaka were now sitting upright and looked between the enemies and each other.

"The Shikon no Tama is…"

"Me and…Yuki?"

Inuyasha's group was especially surprised by this news.

"We saw the jewel obliterated. I don't understand how it can be reincarnated." Sango stated.

Miroku suddenly had a realization. "Of course!" Everyone looked at him. "The Shikon no Tama was created out of the souls of Midoriko-sama, and the demon she fought to the death with. There was too much energy pent up inside of those two conflicting energies to disappear completely. Midoriko-sama's will probably split the energies into two different beings so that it wouldn't be reborn."

"No way…" Kagome said in astonishment.

"Charmer," Ebisu asked, "if I were to go along with my plan and extract the power from these two…"

Sayaka and Yukito stood en guard at the sound of that.

"What would be the result?"

"You would indeed get everything you wanted, and these two would die in the process."

Everyone became even more on edge at the sound of this. Ebisu had his eyes closed and thought for a few minutes.

He then answered, "I had hoped to have no fatalities, but…"

Ebisu raised his hand, and snapped his fingers. The Charmer disappeared with his super speed, but the two teens could see him now and dodged his attack easily.

"Nee-chan! Nii-chan!" Koi called out in concern, she had taken the time to move to where her parents were.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Inuyasha called and charged into the frame. Ebisu sent a beam at him and he had to land on a stalagmite at the last minute to avoid being frozen in time.

"I'm very sorry, but I must have this power."

"Shut up you bastard!" He charged once again and Ebisu sent another beam at him. However, Kagome sent an arrow at it and deflected the beam away. Ebisu looked even angrier but Inuyasha took this time to get closer to his daughter and her friend.

Sayaka and Yukito kept dodging the attacks as best they could but the thing kept coming, and its speed was increasing with every moment. At one point it grabbed Sayaka with one hand, Inuyasha immediately cut off his arm though. The monster roared in pain as Inuyasha caught Sayaka and landed safely on a nearby ledge.

"You okay Saya?" Yukito called as he distracted the beast.

She didn't answer him; she could only stare at her father as he released her from the grip of the now dead arm.

"Are you alright?" Inuyasha asked.

"Papa…is it really…" she asked in disbelief.

"Listen, I want you and that kid to get out of here while we distract that thing."

She couldn't believe her ears. This was the same thing as what happened all those years ago.

"Sorry, that's not going to happen." Before either of them could react, Ebisu appeared behind Inuyasha and sent him flying towards the lava. At the last minute he used Tessaiga to catch himself before he fell into it.

"Papa!" Sayaka called. Ebisu grabbed her around the neck again as he hoisted her up. She raised her fist to punch him, "Let me go you-Ohhh!" Ebisu jabbed her in the stomach before she could finish.

"Saya!" Yukito called. The Charmer took this time to knock him behind the neck and stun him long enough to catch him.

Ebisu dragged Sayaka over to the giant machine in the center of the cavern and waited as the Charmer brought Yukito over.

"Hold it right there!" Sango and the others flew over on Kirara and readied their weapons. Inuyasha also climbed up from where he was and was snarling with Tessaiga drawn.

"Let Sayaka and Yukito-kun go!" Kagome commanded as she knocked an arrow.

"I cannot," Ebisu said simply.

"Either you release them or we take them back by force," Inuyasha growled.

Ebisu looked around and saw that he and his creature were completely surrounded. During this time, both of the teens were starting to come to.

"I have no time for this," Ebisu said agitated. He raised his remote and pointed it up above his head.

"Don't you dare you-" But it was too late a giant barrier was erected around the enemies. All of them started banging at it, using their weapons and such, in an attempt to break through.

"It's useless," Ebisu said, almost sounding remorseful. Sayaka and Yukito have woken up at this time, but they were thrown in to the chamber. They ran to try and get out but the door closed before they could have a chance. "The barrier is set to dissipate as soon as the process is complete. I really hoped no one would have to die…but this must be done."

"DAMN YOU!" Inuyasha called and sent a Kaze no Kizu at the barrier: nothing. Then a Kongosoha: nothing.

"Please don't do this!" Kagome called, almost in tears as she banged her fists against the barrier.

On the inside, Sayaka and Yukito were themselves trying to get out.

"Let us out!" Sayaka called as she clawed the hot metal.

"You can't do this!" Yukito added as he pounded on the door.

Ebisu slowly walked over to the switch, ignoring all of the banging and calling out. He finally made it over, and placed his hand on the lever. He looked up and seemed almost sad as he said, "I'm sorry." And pulled the switch; the Charmer smiled malevolently.

Sayaka and Yukito stopped banging as they heard the gears winding up inside of where they were. The stood at the ready for a moment, then all of a sudden, bolts of electricity hit them and they screamed in pain.

"SAYAKA!" Inuyasha and Kagome called out.

"NEE-CHAN!"

"Sayaka!"

"Sayaka-chan!"

"Sayaka-san!"

Inuyasha sliced away at the barrier with his claws and cursed with each movement "Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!"

Inside, Sayaka and Yukito held each other; trying to shield each other from the pain. Yukito opened his eyes and looked at Sayaka and at the flow of energy coming out. He thought for a moment and then closed his eyes again.

"Saya."

Sayaka looked up to him. "That guy said that only half of the jewel's energy is in each of us right?"

"Yeah, why?"

Yukito was silent for a moment, and then he grabbed on to her face with both hands and kissed her.

She was shocked by this and felt something strange too. Something was different; the energy was still being taken out, but she could feel something was coming into her as well. It was warm, and comforting; flowing in through their lips. After a few moments the machine began to wind down and Yukito finally released her from his grasp. It was afterwards that he collapsed.

"**YUKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**Sayaka held his head in her arms as her eyes welled up with tears. He was still breathing, but only barely.

"S-Say..a" he managed to make out.

"It's okay, Yuki," Sayaka replied, smiling. "You're still alive, we'll get you some help."

He coughed and started wheezing, "Sorry…but it's not gonna happen." Sayaka looked more concerned at him as more tears came into her eyes.

"What are talking about? We-we always said we would…we would fight together forever….YOU CAN'T DIE ON ME sob"

"Don't really want to…but, as long as you're alive…it makes it easier to go."

"WHY DOES EVERYONE ALWAYS SAY THAT? YOU CAN'T DIE! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Haha…I told you before, 'you don't know what being alone really is'…so don't go making like you do." Tears began streaming down her face. "I know…what it means, and…you're not alone….Saya."

She looked at him right in the eyes as he took her hand in his, "I really love you…I want to know you know that."

She collected herself enough to speak, "I do…sobI love you too. That's why you can't go."

"Saya…I…want you…to smile." She looked a bit surprised at this request, "You're best…weapon is…a smile. Don't ever forget…that. Okay?"

"I'll smile later. After we both go home, then we'll spar, and I'll make you bento for a month," she said with her voice shaking.

"Right, 'a true warrior never…goes back on her word'." Sayaka smiled just a bit. "Be sure…to eat…double…for me…"

His grip loosened on hers. The smile vanished on her face as his eyes finished shutting and his head rolled to one side. Her eyes grew wide and she shook his body.

"Yuki? Yuki! Please, don't do this... don't…no…no. **NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" **She held onto his body and sobbed uncontrollably as the machine took what was left from him. When it was finished, she saw something glowing; Yukito's whole body began glowing green. She looked up and down him and at his feet, she saw that he was beginning to dissipate. "**NO! STOP! STOP, DON'T GO!**" She tried and tried to get it to stop but it was impossible. At the very end, it was his eyes that left last; and she was left with absolutely nothing of him. She fell to the ground, face first and began to cry hysterically.

"It's open!" Miroku called and everyone ran in as Ebisu ran out through a secret door which closed behind him. They forced the door of the machine open and saw Sayaka crying. Kagome and Inuyasha ran to her and Kagome kneeled and hugged her. Inuyasha kneeled as well but could only look at the horrible sight of his only flesh and blood, completely torn up. They stayed there a minute to get her to calm down. She only said one word the whole time. "Yuki"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

A/N: Hey guys! I LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA lol Yeah, I told you that I would continue. It just took a lot longer than I thought. I forgot that after Thanksgiving I had finals and Christmas shopping and other stuff. So here it is: CHAPTER 12. I tried to make this section as heartfelt as possible. Please tell me how you thought it was. Don't ask me whether or not I'll be bringing Yukito back or not because I'm not going to spoil any part of my story. I really gotta hustle since the end of the Inuyasha manga series is coming to a close. Don't worry though, I'll still do a good job on the story and not make it a piece of crap. As a side note: for those of you who were keeping up with the manga, yes I am aware about Kohaku and I change my story so that he's just living peacefully in another village or something okay? Cool, so anyway, visit my homepage on this site. I'll be sure to try and keep you informed on my progress on future chapters. Please please please write many reviews. I know I said this in my previous chapter but they really do help me out soooo much. It puts me in such a good mood and makes me want to write even more. Well, I'll see you at Chapter 13. ARIGATO!!!!


	13. Chapter 13

Back at the Higurashi Shrine, there was nothing but silence and darkness. Normally, the air would be filled with the sounds of animals, cars, and people and the afternoon sun would bathe the city in its warm, tender glow. Not this day though, time was frozen and the world was eerily still. Everyone besides Kagome and the children were sitting in the living room as they thought about everything that has happened and will happen since their incident began; no one said a word for quite a while. The silence was finally broken with the sound of Kagome's footsteps coming down the stairs, and everyone turned to face her as she spoke.

"Everyone's asleep in Sayaka's room," she said in a sad tone. "I got her to calm down but she still cried herself to sleep." Kagome walked over and sat on the couch next to Inuyasha. Everyone's head drooped down and the silence resumed for a few more moments. During this time, Inuyasha thought back to when they got out of the mountain.

FLASHBACK:

_Kagome was cradling her daughter in her arms as she tried to get her to calm down; but it was futile. Sayaka could hear nothing outside of her own cries and despairs. Inuyasha couldn't think of anything to say; he could only look at the only true blood relative he had, being torn apart by grief. _

How could this happen?_ he thought to himself. He looked on and gritted his teeth as he thought again_ This wasn't supposed to happen!

_He abruptly turned and ran out of the container and started shouting at the top of his lungs._

"_WHERE ARE YOU, YOU FILTHY BASTARD?! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!" Inuyasha drew his sword out again, "DAMN IT! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME YOU ASSHOLE! I'M GONNA MAKE YOU WISH YOU'D NEVER BEEN BORN! DAMN IT! I SAID SHOW YOUR FACE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Even after all that though, there was still no reply. Everyone else only looked at him as Sayaka's cries quieted slightly; however, there were still rivers of tears coming down from her closed eyes. After another moment, Inuyasha was about to shout again but instead, they felt the cavern trembling. They looked up and saw explosions happening at various parts around the cavern._

"_What's happening?" Koi asked._

"_Is the mountain erupting?" added Tetsu. Kagome looked up along the walls of the cavern and saw that there were machines and wires hooked up all over the place._

"_Those are bombs! We have to get out of here before we're crushed!" Kagome called out._

_Sango called Kirara so that she and Miroku could ride on here and Koi hopped on top of Tetsu's back. Kagome tried to get Sayaka to stand._

"_Sayaka, we have to go now!" But Sayaka wouldn't move an inch."Sayaka!"_

"_NO I'M NOT MOVIN'! I WON'T LEAVE HIM!"_

_Inuyasha looked down at her and up at the collapsing ceiling. He gritted his teeth in frustration before coming to a decision. _

"_Kagome, get on my back!" he yelled. Kagome was confused but she let go of Sayaka and the minute she did, Inuyasha scooped her up under his arm as Kagome climbed on his back. _

"_NO! Papa, let me go! I wanna stay here! Yuki needs me!"_

"_Sorry but it's time to go!" Inuyasha leapt into the air and everyone went out through the archway just in time before the rest of the ceiling collapsed. Shippo and Shizuku moved further back from the entrance and stood with the rest of the group as the dust settled and all that was left was a pile of stones where the tunnel used to be._

END FLASHBACK:

Inuyasha clutched his fist again as he wondered aloud, "What the hell happened to that kid?"

Kagome replied without even looking up, "He sacrificed himself for her."

"But HOW? I don't understand what he did?"

"It would seem that he transferred the rest of his life energy to Sayaka-san and took in the rest of the Shikon no Tama's power at the same time," Miroku explained. "That man, Ebisu, said that half of their total energies came from the jewel, however taking away that much energy would result in the death of the individual it was taken from. Therefore, in order to save Sayaka-san, that boy gave up every last energy of his being to her so that she would live, which would explain why his whole body disappeared like that; I'm sure you could sense it as well Kagome-sama."

Kagome just looked away even more so, meaning that she did.

"That poor boy," Sango said. "And Sayaka-chan must be so confused right now. It's probably better to wait a little while before we move out again, so that we all can recover."

"Yeah," Shippo said sadly. Everyone else just nodded in agreement.

"Let's all try to sleep down here," Kagome said as she stood up. "Shippo-chan, could you stay upstairs with the children?"

"Sure Kagome," Shippo answered, and he started up the stairs. After that, the rest of them all went to sleep.

Upstairs, Sayaka was laying in her bed, and she kept dreaming about what happened; Yukito's last words kept echoing in her head. "As long as you're alive…it makes it easier to go." "You're not alone…Saya." "Be sure…to eat…double…for me." A single tear rolled down her face and her eyes opened slowly as she sat up in bed. She looked around and saw Tetsu and his siblings along with Shippo laying strewn about on the floor of her room. She said nothing and turned her head to look out the window to the dark world with the frozen sun. She whispered, "Yuki."



Back downstairs, everyone minus Inuyasha had already fallen asleep. He just sat with his sword in his arms as he stared into the darkness. Outside, he heard a sound and then footsteps. He grabbed his sword and walked quietly out the door and towards the area where he heard the person. He peered around the corner and saw that it was Sayaka, staring up at the Goshinboku (Sacred Tree). He looked at her surprised for a minute after taking his hand of the hilt of Tessaiga, and walked over to where she was. Sayaka could smell him coming so she wasn't surprised when he appeared next to her on her left.

"Long time no see, Papa." Inuyasha looked at her even though she was still looking up at the tree, her bangs covering her eyes. "I thought that if I was ever able to truly say those words, we would all be happy and it would be just like it was before. 'Long time no see'." She looked up even higher so that she could see the sky; the dim light of the frozen sun reflected her sad eyes. "But now things are even worse than before," she finished as she looked back down at the ground with her arms crossed.

Inuyasha took his eyes off her and looked up to the tree again before saying, "That kid, Yukito was his name I guess, he gave his life for yours it seems."

"Yeah, but…I still don't get why," Sayaka said without looking up. "Papa?" Inuyasha looked down at her. "You said you'd explain it to me later. So now I want to know." She looked up at him and her eyes looked sad, angry, and confused at the same time as she asked quietly but fiercely, "Why were you willing to give up your life for ours? When someone dies they lose everything, no matter the reason. Even if it is for another person, you won't be alive to enjoy being with the person you saved. So, why is everyone so willing and determined to give up their lives for others? Isn't anyone afraid to die?"

He looked away from her again; first down, then up to the sky again. "To be honest, I've never really thought about it before. Whenever I saw one of you in danger, I just acted without thinking…so I guess it was just instinct for me." Sayaka looked down, disappointed, but then he continued. "Now that I think about it though, I was protecting my life." She looked back up at him, surprised. "You've probably heard this before, but I was alone for most of my life, my old man died when I was born and my mother died when I was still a kid. For the longest time, the only drive to keep me going was to get stronger and take down my enemies, but even with that, I still didn't really care if I died in the next fight or not." A vision of Kikyou popped into his head just for a moment. "Even when I thought I'd found a reason to live, I was sealed away and was alone again."

"Papa…"

"That's when Kagome came, and unsealed me. We made more friends, and little by little, my soul, my life, she gave it back to me. Then you came, and I had a family again for the first time in years." He closed his eyes and smiled as he let his head drop before continuing, "So you see, my life is nothing without the important people in my life. That night, if I had let any of you die, I would've become alone again." Sayaka thought back to Yukito in the cavern: _**You don't know what being alone really is…so don't go making like you do.**_



"My life isn't about my heartbeat or my breath, it's my friends and family that's my life." He looked at her again, not smiling though, "It's when they die that I die, so I was protecting my life that day."

Sayaka looked at her father for a moment and then smiled and looked away. She started to tremble and some stutters came out from her mouth; it became louder and louder until it turned into her laughing full out. She had her hand in front of her mouth and holding her chest with the other as she laughed and giggled.

Inuyasha looked at her surprised and a little annoyed at the same time. "What're you laughing at?"

"Haa ha, sorry Papa. (chuckle) This is just the first time I've heard you speak this seriously for such a long time. Ha ha ha! It really doesn't suit you at all! Ha ha it was (chuckle) WAY too logical to be you!"

Now he was really annoyed, "You little brat! Here I am trying to talk to you and you have the nerve to make fun of that."

"If I can't help it, then it can't be helped (giggle)!"

"Shut up!"

Sayaka kept laughing, but now streams of tears started pouring out of her eyes. There were way too many to be tears from laughing. Inuyasha stopped growling at her and looked at her surprised.

"Like…like I said," she managed to get out. Sayaka kept smiling and giggling as she had her eyes closed and tried to wipe away the tears, "I can't even help feeling sad and happy at the same time." Soon, she lost her smile again and was just full out crying. She turned her body to him and placed her head on top of his chest. "I'm glad to see you, but it still hurts so much!"

Inuyasha placed one hand on her head and the other on her shoulder and pulled her closer to him as he said, "It's going to hurt. The pain will probably never truly go away, but still, you're not alone. Don't let that kid's sacrifice go in vain. We'll leave here soon, and we'll make sure that bastard regrets that very day he was born." Sayaka broke from his grip, wiped the tears from her eyes, and nodded firmly with determination in her eyes.

Sayaka looked up to the tree once more as she thought, _Just watch Yuki! I'm not going to give up, I'll beat this guy's ass in. I'll fight twice as hard, for both of us. So just watch okay?_

Unknowingly to them, Kagome was standing downwind behind the wall and had heard the whole thing. She smiled and headed back inside to wait for them.

TO BE CONTINUED…



A/N: Okay! YAY'S I finally got to type up this chapter! Sorry to make you all wait this long but I told you I wouldn't give up didn't I? Thank you for all your reviews and your support. I've decided that I won't be giving you a deadline date on my stories anymore because, as you can see, I'm not really able to keep them. On my homepage though, I'll be sure to keep you updated on my progress on chapters in the works. At least now it is summer and all I really have is my job to worry about. Just keep the reviews coming and I'll be motivated to keep writing! Love you all! ARIGATO


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